Photo: Runner1928 · CC BY-SA 3.0Lusk has lower household incomes than 61% of U.S. towns
About two in five stay in Lusk for work; outside it, Cheyenne is the main destination (3%, 114 miles). 10.3% of residents live below the poverty line, where Wyoming as a whole has 10.5%. Jobs and income earn Lusk C−; getting around on foot earns it A.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Lusk: the gist
A big share show a job far from home
36% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Commutes from Lusk are quick
The average trip to work takes 10 minutes, against 19 across Wyoming. That’s about 69 hours a year less on the road than the typical Wyoming 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 394 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How Lusk earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Lusk is better than 21% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Lusk’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 2% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (4.9%) is left out: Lusk’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Lusk could be anywhere from D to B−.
Lusk’s commute, mile by mile
About 36% 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.
About 10 minutes each way for Lusk’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 3.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lusk workers work from home, vs 9% across Wyoming. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 527 commuters (the 4% who work from home are left out). Across Wyoming: 83% 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.
The workday shuffle in and out of Lusk
On a workday 220 residents head out to work, 174 work right here, and 387 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,600 people are in Lusk on a workday afternoon, 12% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.42 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.
Where Lusk goes to work
Where Lusk clocks in
3% of workers
3% of workers
2% 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.
Health, schools and offices: most of the jobs in Lusk
561 jobs are based in Lusk.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lusk, 2013 → 2023: 647 → 561. 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 Lusk’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Lusk is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Lusk is more walkable than 87% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Lusk 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 548 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 Lusk households have no vehicle (Wyoming 4.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Lusk’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Lusk ranks: 3,959th of 5,877 U.S. towns of 1,000 to 1,900
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 541 | Rafter J Ranch WY | 1,293 | $161K | 0.0% | 0.0% | 1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 727 | Hoback WY | 1,316 | $147K | 1.7% | 1.8% | 11% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,115 | Story WY | 1,054 | $114K | 1.9% | 0.0% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,957 | McEwen TN | 1,790 | $61K | 9.6% | 16.6% | 7% | C− |
| 3,958 | Cashton WI | 1,174 | $70K | 20.7% | 5.3% | 9% | C− |
| 3,959 | Lusk WY | 1,421 | $69K | 10.3% | 4.9% | 44% | C− |
| 3,960 | Lamard Township IL | 1,324 | $69K | 12.2% | 1.9% | 2% | C− |
| 3,961 | Stockton Springs ME | 1,593 | $75K | 14.5% | 5.2% | 1% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,877 | 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 Lusk, the top three, the last and three more from Wyoming.
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 Lusk: questions
What is the median household income in Lusk?
$68,507 (±$13,909) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $76,176 across Wyoming and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lusk?
10.3%, against 10.5% across Wyoming and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lusk?
10 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Wyoming and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lusk work?
44% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Cheyenne (3%, 114 mi), Rapid City (3%, 110 mi), Rock Springs (2%, 257 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Lusk walkable?
Lusk is more walkable than 87% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.7 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lusk without a car?
0% 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 Lusk, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lusk
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.