Photo: User:Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 4.0Unemployment in Lincoln (7.3%) is higher than in 84% of U.S. towns
Measured by household income, Lincoln is ahead of 80% of U.S. towns. For jobs and income Lincoln is better than 69% of U.S. towns (B+); for walkability it is more walkable than 63% of U.S. towns (B). About one in seven work in Lincoln; the top destination outside it is Providence (18%, 7 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Lincoln at work: what stands out
Lincoln and Providence trade workers both ways
Providence is the top workplace for Lincoln residents (18%) and also where the most people who work in Lincoln come from (12% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Most Lincoln residents work close to home
63% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home. Only 3% work more than 50 miles away. How far ↓
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.
Inside Lincoln’s Jobs & income grade
Job access by car holds Lincoln’s grade up (ahead of 90% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down. It also does well on household income and the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Lincoln could be anywhere from B to A.
Commuting out of Lincoln: the destinations
Where Lincoln clocks in
18% of workers
6% of workers
5% 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 far it is to work from Lincoln
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.
A workday in Lincoln: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 9,374 residents head out to work, 1,349 work right here, and 13,788 people come in from elsewhere.
About 28,000 people are in Lincoln on a workday afternoon, 19% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.41 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.
65% of the jobs in Lincoln pay over $3,333 a month
15,137 jobs are based in Lincoln.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lincoln, 2013 → 2023: 11,835 → 15,137. 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 Lincoln’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 24 minutes each way for Lincoln’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lincoln workers work from home, vs 13% across Rhode Island. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 9,334 commuters (the 13% who work from home are left out). Across Rhode Island: 83% drive alone, 2% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
For most of Lincoln, work means a drive
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 5.7% across Rhode Island.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 10,772 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 34% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 4.8 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 83% 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). 6.0% of Lincoln households have no vehicle (Rhode Island 9.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Lincoln’s commuters take a bus or train.
Lincoln places 757th of 1,577 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 17,000 to 32,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Lake Forest IL | 19,731 | $235K | 3.5% | 1.8% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 321 | Portsmouth RI | 17,474 | $117K | 4.9% | 3.1% | 16% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 369 | North Kingstown RI | 27,885 | $126K | 6.1% | 3.4% | 19% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 401 | Bristol RI | 21,970 | $98K | 6.5% | 2.8% | 21% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 755 | Winter Gardens CA | 22,131 | $98K | 9.3% | 5.2% | 3% | B+ |
| 756 | Gladstone MO | 27,497 | $79K | 11.0% | 3.3% | 5% | B+ |
| 757 | Lincoln RI | 23,713 | $105K | 7.4% | 7.3% | 13% | B+ |
| 758 | Cherry Hill VA | 26,044 | $122K | 8.6% | 6.7% | 1% | B+ |
| 759 | La Verne CA | 30,178 | $104K | 8.5% | 7.1% | 7% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,577 | Nogales AZ | 19,495 | $43K | 28.0% | 15.7% | 37% | 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 Lincoln, the top three, the last and three more from Rhode Island.
Work in the towns next to Lincoln
The biggest share goes to Cumberland (4%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Lincoln workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lincoln | – | B+ | B | 24 min | $104,821 |
| North Smithfield | under 3% | A | B+ | 26 min | $108,866 |
| Cumberland | 4% | A | B | 26 min | $117,522 |
| Valley Falls | under 3% | — | — | 23 min | — |
| Cumberland Hill | under 3% | — | — | 26 min | — |
| Smithfield | 4% | B+ | A | 25 min | $102,077 |
| Central Falls | under 3% | C− | A+ | 27 min | $49,285 |
| North Providence | under 3% | B | A | 27 min | $83,756 |
Same-state neighbors only. Valley Falls and Cumberland Hill: Census-designated places inside larger towns, graded as part of them. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Lincoln’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 Lincoln: questions
What is the median household income in Lincoln?
$104,821 (±$14,604) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $87,796 across Rhode Island and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lincoln?
7.4%, against 11.2% across Rhode Island and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lincoln?
24 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Rhode Island and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lincoln work?
13% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Providence (18%, 7 mi), Pawtucket (6%, 5 mi), Warwick (5%, 15 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Lincoln walkable?
Lincoln is more walkable than 63% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 9.3 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lincoln without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lincoln, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lincoln
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.