Biltmore Estate · Photo: Blake Lewis · CC BY-SA 2.0Biltmore Forest has higher household incomes than 97% of U.S. towns
Below the poverty line: 2.0% of residents (North Carolina 13.0%). The two grades for Biltmore Forest are A+ for jobs and income and B− for walkability. Home is the office for 24% of workers, where North Carolina as a whole has 16%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Biltmore Forest stands out on work
Biltmore Forest is where the jobs are
Biltmore Forest has 1,543 jobs, 2.9 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 2,500 people are in town, 69% more than the 1,500 who live here. Day and night ↓
Nearly half of Biltmore Forest works in Asheville
239 working residents, 45%, have their main job in Asheville, 2.6 miles away across the town line. That’s 9 times as many as work in Biltmore Forest itself. The commute map ↓
Nearly all the work in Biltmore Forest is services
97% of the jobs based here are in services, such as health care, schools and offices. Only 1% are in factories, building or farms. The jobs ↓
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 536 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The figures behind Biltmore Forest’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Biltmore Forest is better than 98% of U.S. towns. Household income is its strongest input ($169,167, U.S. $80,734); job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 69% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate and job access by car.
Unemployment (2.5%) is left out: Biltmore Forest’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Biltmore Forest stays A+.
In and out of Biltmore Forest on a workday
On a workday 510 residents head out to work, 26 work right here, and 1,517 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,500 people are in Biltmore Forest on a workday afternoon, 69% more than live here.
2.9 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.
Who travels to work in Biltmore Forest, and from where
Where Biltmore Forest clocks in
6% of workers
3% 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.
In Biltmore Forest, services account for most jobs
1,543 jobs are based in Biltmore Forest.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Biltmore Forest, 2013 → 2023: 954 → 1,543. 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 Biltmore Forest’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 18 minutes in Biltmore Forest
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Biltmore Forest workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 438 commuters (the 24% 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 Biltmore Forest works
About 23% 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.
Getting around Biltmore Forest: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Biltmore Forest is more walkable than 48% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.4% 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 573 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 2% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 2% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 2.9 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 75% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 0.0% of Biltmore Forest households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Biltmore Forest’s commuters take a bus or train.
96th of 6,308: where Biltmore Forest ranks among U.S. towns of 1,000 to 2,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 75 | Governors Club NC | 1,787 | $236K | 0.0% | 8.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 94 | Bull Run Mountain Estates VA | 1,827 | $250K | 1.1% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| 95 | Hopewell NJ | 1,944 | $145K | 3.9% | 2.1% | 5% | A+ |
| 96 | Biltmore Forest NC | 1,469 | $169K | 2.0% | 2.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 97 | Helena Township MN | 1,812 | $156K | 1.0% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 98 | Penryn CA | 1,114 | $127K | 2.4% | 5.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 293 | Northlakes NC | 1,716 | $101K | 2.0% | 1.0% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 390 | Montreat NC | 1,024 | $116K | 0.0% | 9.6% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 6,308 | 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 Biltmore Forest, the top three, the last and three more from North Carolina.
Next door is work for 45% of Biltmore Forest
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Biltmore Forest workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Biltmore Forest | – | A+ | B− | 18 min | $169,167 |
| Asheville | 45% | B− | A | 18 min | $71,102 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Asheville. Darker towns draw more of Biltmore Forest’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 Biltmore Forest: questions
What is the median household income in Biltmore Forest?
$169,167 (±$40,342) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Biltmore Forest?
2.0%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Biltmore Forest?
18 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 24% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Biltmore Forest work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Asheville (45%, 3 mi), Charlotte (6%, 99 mi), Hendersonville (3%, 15 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Biltmore Forest walkable?
Biltmore Forest is more walkable than 48% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 9.0 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Biltmore Forest without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. 2% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Biltmore Forest, from the people who make the trip.
More of Biltmore Forest
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.