Photo: AITFFan1 · CC BY-SA 4.0Family incomes put Lawrence near the very top of U.S. towns
Leaving out college students, 3.4% of residents live below the poverty line, next to 13.5% for New York as a whole. Measured by family income, Lawrence is among the highest-earning towns in the country. Lawrence grades A+ for jobs and income and A+ for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Lawrence, in brief
Much of Lawrence works one town over
79% of working residents work in a town that borders Lawrence: New York (53%) and Hempstead (26%). Next door ↓
Lawrence workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 39 minutes each way, against 33 across New York. Over a year that’s about 299 hours of commuting, 46 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
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.
The four measures behind Lawrence’s grade
On family income, poverty and job access, Lawrence is among the top U.S. towns, #1 of 758 in New York. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Lawrence’s grade. It also does well on the poverty rate and job access by car.
15% of Lawrence’s residents are college students, and off-campus students count in the Census poverty figures. Where students are 15% or more of the people the Census checks for poverty (16% here), the grade uses the rate without them: 3.4%, against 3.5% for all residents. Unemployment (3.9%) is left out here: students looking for part-time work count as unemployed. Income is ranked as median family income ($244,750), since student households pull the household median down ($170,000).
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for family income and poverty, Lawrence stays A+.
How long Lawrence spends getting to work: about 39 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 12.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lawrence workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,069 commuters (the 9% who work from home are left out). Across New York: 57% drive alone, 25% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Who leaves Lawrence for work, and who comes in
On a workday 2,186 residents head out to work, 174 work right here, and 1,752 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.82 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
53% of working residents work in New York City
Where Lawrence clocks in
53% of workers
26% 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.
Services make up most of the work in Lawrence
1,926 jobs are based in Lawrence.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lawrence, 2013 → 2023: 2,117 → 1,926. 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 Lawrence’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Lawrence goes to work
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.
Lawrence is among the most walkable U.S. towns
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Lawrence is among the most walkable U.S. towns, #60 of 758 in New York. Both inputs place Lawrence near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,267 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 88% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 46% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 21.2 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 98% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 17.3% of Lawrence households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 9% of Lawrence’s commuters take a bus or train.
Lawrence next to U.S. towns of 4,800 to 9,200: 9th of 3,168 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 7 | Braddock VA | 6,536 | $212K | 0.9% | 1.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 8 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| 9 | Lawrence NY | 6,847 | $170K | 3.5% | 3.9% | 7% | A+ |
| 10 | Hainesport Township NJ | 6,197 | $143K | 2.1% | 0.0% | 5% | A+ |
| 11 | Fulton MD | 5,677 | $222K | 0.7% | 1.7% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 15 | Irvington NY | 6,533 | $173K | 1.6% | 2.1% | 6% | A+ |
| 16 | Kings Point NY | 5,710 | $211K | 0.9% | 2.4% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 23 | North Hills NY | 5,481 | $173K | 3.0% | 1.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,168 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Lawrence, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
Bordering towns draw 79% of Lawrence’s workers
The biggest share goes to New York (53%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Lawrence workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lawrence | – | A+ | A+ | 39 min | $170,000 |
| Hempstead | 26% | A | A+ | 37 min | $141,243 |
| New York | 53% | B− | A+ | 40 min | $80,483 |
| Inwood | under 1% | — | — | 35 min | — |
| Woodmere | under 1% | — | — | 42 min | — |
| Cedarhurst | under 1% | A− | A+ | 34 min | $101,572 |
| Woodsburgh | under 1% | — | — | 40 min | — |
| Atlantic Beach | under 1% | A+ | A+ | 45 min | $165,565 |
| Long Beach | under 1% | A | A+ | 41 min | $140,739 |
| East Atlantic Beach | under 1% | — | — | 53 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Inwood, Woodmere and East Atlantic Beach: Census-designated places inside larger towns, graded as part of them. Woodsburgh: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Lawrence’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.
- Students. 15% of residents are college students; the poverty input leaves off-campus students out (above).
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Lawrence: questions
What is the median household income in Lawrence?
$170,000 (±$53,198) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lawrence?
3.5% of residents live below the poverty line; leaving out college students, 3.4%. New York: 14.0%.
How long is the commute from Lawrence?
39 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lawrence work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are New York City (53%, 12 mi), Hempstead (26%, 6 mi), North Hempstead (3%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Lawrence walkable?
Lawrence is among the most walkable U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 14.0 out of 20, and 18% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lawrence without a car?
9% of commuters take transit and 17% of households have no car. 46% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lawrence, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lawrence
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.