First Congregational Church and Cemetery · Photo: Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 4.0With 0.1 jobs for every working resident, most of Lewis works elsewhere
Employers in Lewis report 73 jobs, and 508 of its residents work somewhere. Jobs and income earn Lewis B−; getting around on foot earns it D−. Only 4% work in Lewis; the top destination outside it is Elizabethtown (21%, 9 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Lewis
A lot of Lewis works one town over
37% of working residents work in a town that borders Lewis: Elizabethtown (21%), Essex (7%) and Willsboro (5%). Next door ↓
Lewis is a place people come home to
There are 73 jobs based in Lewis, about one for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Lewis has about 800 people in it, 35% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Lewis are quick
The average trip to work takes 25 minutes, against 33 across New York. That’s about 61 hours a year less on the road than the typical New York 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; with 508 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Lewis
On income, poverty and job access, Lewis is better than 53% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Lewis’ grade up (3.2%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 6% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
Unemployment (2.1%) is left out: Lewis’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Lewis could be anywhere from C− to B+.
Who works in Lewis, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 490 residents head out to work, 18 work right here, and 55 people come in from elsewhere.
About 800 people are in Lewis on a workday afternoon, 35% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
About 25 minutes each way, quicker than most of New York
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lewis workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 476 commuters (the 12% 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.
Commuting out of Lewis: the destinations
Where Lewis clocks in
21% of workers
7% of workers
6% 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.
Lewis works in goods: 29% of its jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lewis, 2013 → 2023: 83 → 73. 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 Lewis’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Lewis’ commute, mile by mile
About 25% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
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.
Getting around Lewis: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Lewis is more walkable than 5% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Lewis 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 540 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). 6.3% of Lewis households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Lewis’ commuters take a bus or train.
1,485th of 4,866: where Lewis ranks among U.S. towns of 900 to 1,700
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 4 | Saddle Rock NY | 1,008 | $176K | 0.8% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,483 | Milford UT | 1,401 | $82K | 2.3% | 2.3% | 34% | B− |
| 1,484 | Lewis Township IN | 1,333 | $82K | 3.9% | 3.1% | 1% | B− |
| 1,485 | Lewis NY | 1,239 | $82K | 3.2% | 2.1% | 4% | B− |
| 1,486 | Murphys Estates SC | 1,064 | $90K | 14.6% | 0.0% | 1% | B− |
| 1,487 | Oolitic IN | 1,142 | $59K | 3.1% | 4.0% | 1% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,866 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Lewis, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
Next door is work for 37% of Lewis
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Lewis workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lewis | – | B− | D− | 25 min | $82,083 |
| Elizabethtown | 21% | D | B− | 16 min | $57,222 |
| Chesterfield | under 4% | D | C− | 21 min | $65,278 |
| Jay | under 4% | B− | C− | 28 min | $72,380 |
| Willsboro | 5% | C− | C | 24 min | $69,766 |
| Essex | 7% | — | — | 24 min | — |
| Westport | 4% | C− | B | 30 min | $71,146 |
Same-state neighbors only. Essex: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Elizabethtown. Darker towns draw more of Lewis’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 Lewis: questions
What is the median household income in Lewis?
$82,083 (±$34,501) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lewis?
3.2%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lewis?
25 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lewis work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Elizabethtown (21%, 9 mi), Essex (7%, 9 mi), Plattsburgh (6%, 26 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Lewis walkable?
Lewis is more walkable than 5% of U.S. towns (Walkability D−): an EPA walkability index of 4.5 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lewis without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lewis, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lewis
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.