Work & commute · Lewes

Work & commute in Lewes, DE

Most working residents leave Lewes for work: only 16% work in town. The top destinations are Dover (4%), Rehoboth Beach (4%) and Wilmington (3%). Half commute less than 14 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

16%

171 of 1,072 working residents

Typical commute

14 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

24 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

40%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 901 Lewes residents head out of town to work, 171 work right here, and 4,821 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Lewes.

901live here, work elsewhere

171live and work here

4,821work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Lewes goes to work

Lewes (in town)right here

16%171

Dover33.3 mi away

4%44

Rehoboth Beach5.4 mi away

4%42

Wilmington69.3 mi away

3%33

Milford17.5 mi away

2%26

Georgetown14.5 mi away

2%25

Milton9.2 mi away

2%18

Seaford26.7 mi away

1%12

Middletown55.2 mi away

1%11

Smyrna43.6 mi away

1%10

Everywhere elseother towns and states

63%680

Lines run between town centers; a thicker line means more commuters. The top 10 towns each way.

How far

How far Lewes commutes

Straight-line distance from home to work, for every working resident. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.

48%

15%

12%

26%

48%Under 10 mi

15%10–24 mi

12%25–50 mi

26%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Lewes is a job hub

4.66jobs per working resident

A job hub

4.7 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.

The jobs

What the jobs in Lewes are

4,992 jobs are based in Lewes. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Lewes’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Lewes

4,992 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)4%

Trade, transport & utilities5%

Services (health, schools, offices…)92%

$1,250 a month or less11%

$1,251–$3,333 a month23%

Over $3,333 a month66%

Jobs Lewes residents hold

1,072 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)11%

Trade, transport & utilities18%

Services (health, schools, offices…)71%

$1,250 a month or less16%

$1,251–$3,333 a month24%

Over $3,333 a month59%

+29%

Jobs based in Lewes, 2013 → 2023: 3,869 → 4,992. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.

About these numbers

How to read this page

Every worker, home to workThe Census links each worker’s home block to their main job’s block, for jobs covered by unemployment insurance. That’s most jobs, but not the self-employed.

Where the employer saysA job counts where the employer reports it. Some big employers report one address for many sites, which can make a few commutes look longer than they are.

Two surveysFlows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2023. Commute time and working from home: the Census American Community Survey.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs; American Community Survey 5-year estimates.