Work & commute · Lee

Work & commute in Lee, NY

Most working residents leave Lee for work: only 4% work in town. The top destinations are Rome (27%), Utica (9%) and Syracuse (5%). Half commute less than 17 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

106 of 2,612 working residents

Typical commute

17 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

22 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

14%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 2,506 Lee residents head out of town to work, 106 work right here, and 241 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Lee.

2,506live here, work elsewhere

106live and work here

241work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Lee goes to work

Rome7 mi away

27%696

Utica21.6 mi away

9%230

Syracuse37.1 mi away

5%123

Whitestown16 mi away

5%118

Lee (in town)right here

4%106

New York201 mi away

4%98

New Hartford22 mi away

3%89

Verona12.7 mi away

3%83

Oneida19.3 mi away

2%63

DeWitt33.6 mi away

2%52

Everywhere elseother towns and states

37%954

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

How far

How far Lee commutes

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

31%

33%

15%

21%

31%Under 10 mi

33%10–24 mi

15%25–50 mi

21%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Lee is a commuter town

0.13jobs per working resident

A commuter town

0.13 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.

The jobs

What the jobs in Lee are

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

Jobs based in Lee

347 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)39%

Trade, transport & utilities12%

Services (health, schools, offices…)50%

$1,250 a month or less22%

$1,251–$3,333 a month25%

Over $3,333 a month53%

Jobs Lee residents hold

2,612 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)16%

Trade, transport & utilities19%

Services (health, schools, offices…)66%

$1,250 a month or less13%

$1,251–$3,333 a month21%

Over $3,333 a month66%

−21%

Jobs based in Lee, 2013 → 2023: 439 → 347. 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.