Photo: Bigbird78 · CC BY-SA 3.0Jobs and earnings in Aberdeen, and the trip to work
Jobs and income earn Aberdeen B−; getting around on foot earns it B. 8% of workers have no commute at all; North Carolina has 16%. About one in ten stay in Aberdeen for work; outside it, Southern Pines is the main destination (15%, 5 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Aberdeen
Aberdeen draws workers from far and wide
The 5,168 jobs in Aberdeen are filled from a wide area. Aberdeen’s own residents hold 6% and the ten next-biggest home towns 22%; the other 72% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Aberdeen is where the jobs are
Aberdeen has 5,168 jobs, 1.5 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
A lot of Aberdeen works one town over
30% of working residents work in a town that borders Aberdeen: Southern Pines (15%) and Pinehurst (15%). Next door ↓
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.
The figures behind Aberdeen’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Aberdeen is better than 51% of U.S. towns, #124 of 290 in North Carolina. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Aberdeen’s grade.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Aberdeen could be anywhere from C to A−.
Who travels to work in Aberdeen, and from where
Where Aberdeen clocks in
15% of workers
15% 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.
The daily flow of workers through Aberdeen
On a workday 3,041 residents head out to work, 332 work right here, and 4,836 people come in from elsewhere.
About 12,000 people are in Aberdeen on a workday afternoon, 18% more than live here.
1.5 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
What Aberdeen’s employers do
5,168 jobs are based in Aberdeen.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Aberdeen, 2013 → 2023: 4,426 → 5,168. 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 Aberdeen’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting to work from Aberdeen takes about 27 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Aberdeen workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,238 commuters (the 8% who work from home are left out). Across North Carolina: 85% 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.
Where in the region Aberdeen works
About 27% 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.
Few in Aberdeen walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Aberdeen is more walkable than 55% of U.S. towns, #99 of 290 in North Carolina. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 2.9% across North Carolina.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 4,582 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). 4.1% of Aberdeen households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Aberdeen’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Aberdeen ranks: 1,686th of 2,878 U.S. towns of 7,000 to 14,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 191 | Oak Ridge NC | 7,896 | $155K | 3.6% | 2.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 294 | Rolesville NC | 12,839 | $150K | 1.1% | 3.7% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 368 | Summerfield NC | 11,327 | $160K | 7.1% | 2.1% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,684 | Ocean Township NJ | 9,314 | $101K | 9.0% | 7.9% | 6% | B− |
| 1,685 | Cambridge MN | 11,090 | $69K | 10.5% | 3.4% | 24% | B− |
| 1,686 | Aberdeen NC | 10,066 | $75K | 10.5% | 3.7% | 10% | B− |
| 1,687 | Hutchins TX | 8,206 | $48K | 18.9% | 2.5% | 4% | B− |
| 1,688 | Clay Township MI | 8,268 | $87K | 8.6% | 4.6% | 7% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,878 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Aberdeen, the top three, the last and three more from North Carolina.
Aberdeen and its neighbors: 30% work next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Aberdeen workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aberdeen | – | B− | B | 27 min | $75,078 |
| Southern Pines | 15% | B− | B− | 23 min | $88,535 |
| Pinehurst | 15% | B+ | C | 24 min | $109,802 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Southern Pines. Darker towns draw more of Aberdeen’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 Aberdeen: questions
What is the median household income in Aberdeen?
$75,078 (±$5,900) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Aberdeen?
10.5%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Aberdeen?
27 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Aberdeen work?
10% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Southern Pines (15%, 5 mi), Pinehurst (15%, 4 mi), Fayetteville (5%, 26 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Aberdeen walkable?
Aberdeen is more walkable than 55% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 8.0 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Aberdeen without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Aberdeen, from the people who make the trip.
More of Aberdeen
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.