Photo: Bostonian13 · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Lee have higher incomes than those in 92% of U.S. towns
For 28% of workers, the job is at home; New Hampshire has 17%. 2.6% of residents live below the poverty line, against 7.2% across New Hampshire. The two grades for Lee are A for jobs and income and B− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Lee apart on work
Home offices are common in Lee
28% of Lee workers work from home, against 17% across New Hampshire. Time on the road ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Lee
71% of Lee residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 50% of the jobs based in Lee pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 96% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
Many jobs in Lee pay little
28% of the jobs based in Lee pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. Young workers hold many of them: 34% of all the jobs here go to people 29 or younger. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Where Lee’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Lee is better than 86% of U.S. towns, #26 of 126 in New Hampshire. The poverty rate holds Lee’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 49% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Lee could be anywhere from B to A+.
A commute of about 28 minutes in Lee
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lee workers work from home, vs 17% across New Hampshire. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,537 commuters (the 28% who work from home are left out). Across New Hampshire: 87% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
What the 1,308 jobs in Lee are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lee, 2013 → 2023: 1,056 → 1,308. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Lee’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Lee on a workday afternoon
On a workday 1,900 residents head out to work, 75 work right here, and 1,233 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,900 people are in Lee on a workday afternoon, 15% fewer than live here.
0.66 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
16% of working residents work in Portsmouth
Where Lee clocks in
16% of workers
13% of workers
10% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
How many miles Lee commutes
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Most trips from Lee start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Lee is more walkable than 54% of U.S. towns, #46 of 126 in New Hampshire. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 3.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.6% across New Hampshire, on an EPA index of 6.5.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,122 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 0.0% of Lee households have no vehicle (New Hampshire 4.6%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Lee’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Lee ranks: 548th of 3,938 U.S. towns of 3,200 to 6,200
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 142 | Brookline NH | 5,858 | $171K | 0.6% | 0.9% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 157 | North Hampton NH | 4,526 | $146K | 2.9% | 1.5% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 216 | Greenland NH | 4,143 | $163K | 0.5% | 2.3% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 546 | Nottingham NH | 5,490 | $122K | 1.4% | 0.0% | 4% | A |
| 547 | Newton NH | 4,851 | $138K | 7.5% | 2.9% | 4% | A |
| 548 | Lee NH | 4,563 | $132K | 2.6% | 3.3% | 4% | A |
| 549 | Hopkinton NH | 6,120 | $137K | 6.5% | 1.3% | 14% | A |
| 550 | Upper Frederick Township PA | 3,716 | $108K | 7.7% | 2.8% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,938 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Lee, the top three, the last and three more from New Hampshire.
The towns next door employ 13% of Lee
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Lee workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lee | – | A | B− | 28 min | $131,579 |
| Durham | 13% | A | A− | 19 min | $124,056 |
| Nottingham | under 3% | A | C− | 34 min | $122,201 |
| Newmarket | under 3% | A | B− | 28 min | $100,845 |
| Madbury | under 3% | A | C+ | 25 min | $148,365 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Durham. Darker towns draw more of Lee’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Lee: questions
What is the median household income in Lee?
$131,579 (±$54,001) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,031 across New Hampshire and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lee?
2.6%, against 7.2% across New Hampshire and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lee?
28 minutes each way on average, against 27 across New Hampshire and 26 nationally. 28% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lee work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Portsmouth (16%, 12 mi), Durham (13%, 4 mi), Dover (10%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Lee walkable?
Lee is more walkable than 54% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 6.5 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lee without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lee, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lee
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.