Flat Top Estate · Photo: Bill Russ photographer · Public domainBlowing Rock has 4.0 jobs for every working resident: 1,666 people commute in to work
Jobs & income A−: better than 78% of U.S. towns on income, poverty and job access.
Walkability A−: more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns.
Household incomes here are higher than in 88% of U.S. towns. Working residents average 22 minutes each way (North Carolina 25, U.S. 26). About one in seven work in Blowing Rock; the top destination outside it is Boone (25%, 6 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The short version on getting to work from Blowing Rock
Blowing Rock has far more jobs than workers
Blowing Rock has 1,730 jobs, 4.0 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 2,600 people are in town, 98% more than the 1,300 who live here. Day and night ↓
Blowing Rock and Boone trade workers both ways
Boone is the top workplace for Blowing Rock residents (25%) and also where the most people who work in Blowing Rock come from (11% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Blowing Rock
57% of Blowing Rock residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 31% of the jobs based in Blowing Rock pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 85% leave town for their job. 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 437 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Blowing Rock’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Blowing Rock is better than 78% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Blowing Rock’s grade up (2.4%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 22% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
Unemployment (0.4%) is left out: Blowing Rock’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Blowing Rock could be anywhere from B− to A−.
Blowing Rock nearly doubles on a workday
On a workday 373 residents head out to work, 64 work right here, and 1,666 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,600 people are in Blowing Rock on a workday afternoon, 98% more than live here.
4.0 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.
Where Blowing Rock’s workers come from
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Blowing Rock clocks in
25% of workers
3% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
What the 1,730 jobs in Blowing Rock are
1,730 jobs are based in Blowing Rock. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Blowing Rock’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Blowing Rock, 2013 → 2023: 1,460 → 1,730. 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.
About 22 minutes each way, quicker than most of North Carolina
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Blowing Rock workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 425 commuters (the 17% 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.
Half of Blowing Rock commutes less than 7 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
About 26% 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.
Blowing Rock is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Blowing Rock is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Blowing Rock near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 515 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). 1.9% of Blowing Rock households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Blowing Rock’s commuters take a bus or train.
Blowing Rock is 613th of 5,400 U.S. towns of 900 to 1,800 on jobs and income
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Blowing Rock, the top three, the last and three more from North Carolina.
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 66 | Governors Club NC | 1,787 | $236K | 0.0% | 8.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 83 | Biltmore Forest NC | 1,469 | $169K | 2.0% | 2.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 233 | Northlakes NC | 1,716 | $101K | 2.0% | 1.0% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 611 | Lowville WI | 1,018 | $108K | 6.8% | 2.6% | 1% | A− |
| 612 | Maria Stein OH | 1,305 | $94K | 0.0% | 0.0% | 7% | A− |
| 613 | Blowing Rock NC | 1,324 | $121K | 2.4% | 0.4% | 15% | A− |
| 614 | Hampton CT | 1,768 | $109K | 5.7% | 6.5% | 6% | A− |
| 615 | Sidney Township IL | 1,654 | $107K | 5.3% | 5.0% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,400 | 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.
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 Blowing Rock: questions
What is the median household income in Blowing Rock?
$120,938 (±$36,350) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Blowing Rock?
2.4%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Blowing Rock?
22 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 18% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Blowing Rock work?
15% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Boone (25%, 6 mi), Lenoir (4%, 17 mi), Charlotte (3%, 79 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Blowing Rock walkable?
Blowing Rock is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.2 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Blowing Rock without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Blowing Rock, from the people who make the trip.
More of Blowing Rock
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.