Photo: Kubigula · CC BY-SA 3.0Bakersville has 2.8 jobs for every working resident: 472 people commute in to work
489 jobs are based in Bakersville; 172 of its residents have a job. About one in ten stay in Bakersville for work; outside it, Spruce Pine is the main destination (12%, 9 miles). 9% of workers work from home, next to 16% for North Carolina as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
How a workday changes Bakersville
On a workday 155 residents head out to work and 17 work right here.
About 790 people are in Bakersville on a workday afternoon, 68% more than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
The daily trip into Bakersville
Where Bakersville clocks in
12% 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.
Mostly services: health care, schools and offices
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bakersville, 2013 → 2023: 409 → 489. 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 Bakersville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Bakersville: about 14 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bakersville workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 245 commuters (the 9% 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.
Bakersville’s commute, mile by mile
About 20% 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.
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 Bakersville: questions
What is the median household income in Bakersville?
$50,263 (±$36,854) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bakersville?
22.4%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bakersville?
14 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bakersville work?
10% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Spruce Pine (12%, 9 mi), Hickory (3%, 51 mi), Burnsville (2%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Bakersville without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 16% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Bakersville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bakersville
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.