George Brothers Building · Photo: Stephen Schweitzer · CC BY-SA 4.0Most of Lyme commutes out: there are 0.4 jobs for every working resident
The two grades for Lyme are C for jobs and income and D for walkability. 270 jobs are based in Lyme for 751 working residents. Home is the office for 7% of workers; New York has 15%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Lyme: the figures worth knowing
Lyme and Watertown trade workers both ways
Watertown is the top workplace for Lyme residents (25%) and also where the most people who work in Lyme come from (12% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Commutes from Lyme are quick
The average trip to work takes 28 minutes, against 33 across New York. That’s about 38 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 751 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The four measures behind Lyme’s grade
On income, poverty and job access, Lyme is better than 33% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Lyme’s grade up ($81,400, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down.
Unemployment (4.2%) is left out: Lyme’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, Lyme could be anywhere from C− to B−.
25% of working residents work in Watertown
Where Lyme clocks in
4% 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.
A commute of about 28 minutes in Lyme
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lyme workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 714 commuters (the 7% 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.
The workday shuffle in and out of Lyme
On a workday 634 residents head out to work, 117 work right here, and 153 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,700 people are in Lyme on a workday afternoon, 22% 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.
Jobs in Lyme: what the 270 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lyme, 2013 → 2023: 274 → 270. 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 Lyme’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Lyme’s workers travel
About 29% 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.
Lyme is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Lyme is more walkable than 14% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Lyme 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 768 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). 3.4% of Lyme households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Lyme’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 5,641 U.S. towns of 1,500 to 3,000, Lyme comes 3,360th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 7 | Atlantic Beach NY | 1,723 | $166K | 1.8% | 3.1% | 3% | A+ |
| 8 | Village of the Branch NY | 1,764 | $174K | 1.5% | 3.1% | 2% | A+ |
| 9 | Old Brookville NY | 2,098 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,358 | Mount Sterling IL | 2,155 | $59K | 12.3% | 3.1% | 34% | C |
| 3,359 | Lisbon OH | 2,496 | $47K | 25.9% | 2.3% | 13% | C |
| 3,360 | Lyme NY | 2,199 | $81K | 11.3% | 4.2% | 16% | C |
| 3,361 | Licking Creek Township PA | 1,607 | $78K | 8.8% | 0.9% | 1% | C |
| 3,362 | Warren Park IN | 1,509 | $43K | 19.2% | 9.9% | <1% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 5,641 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Lyme, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
10% of Lyme works in a town next door
The biggest share goes to Clayton (4%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Lyme workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lyme | – | C | D | 28 min | $81,400 |
| Brownville | 2% | B− | D | 25 min | $88,071 |
| Cape Vincent | 2% | C− | B | 25 min | $61,402 |
| Hounsfield | 2% | B | C | 25 min | $82,981 |
| Clayton | 4% | C | B | 26 min | $90,357 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Lyme’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 Lyme: questions
What is the median household income in Lyme?
$81,400 (±$5,439) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lyme?
11.3%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lyme?
28 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lyme work?
16% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Watertown (25%, 15 mi), Watertown (7%, 16 mi), Clayton (4%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Lyme walkable?
Lyme is more walkable than 14% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 4.9 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lyme without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lyme, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lyme
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.