Photo: Jeremy Mikkola from Boone, NC · CC BY 2.066% of Boone’s residents are college students
Measured by family income, Boone is behind 71% of U.S. towns. The two grades for Boone are C− for jobs and income and A+ for walkability. About one in three work in Boone; the top destination outside it is Charlotte (5%, 84 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 Boone
Boone is where the jobs are
Boone has 14,249 jobs, 2.8 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 29,000 people are in town, 46% more than the 20,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
Boone draws workers from far and wide
The 14,249 jobs in Boone are filled from a wide area. Boone’s own residents hold 13% and the ten next-biggest home towns 10%; the other 77% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Commutes from Boone are quick
The average trip to work takes 16 minutes, against 25 across North Carolina. That’s about 69 hours a year less on the road than the typical North Carolina worker. Time on the road ↓
A young workforce
36% of Boone’s working residents are 29 or younger, about one in three. The jobs ↓
A big share show a job far from home
33% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
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.
Inside Boone’s Jobs & income grade
On family income, poverty and job access, Boone is better than 16% of U.S. towns, #243 of 290 in North Carolina. Job access by car holds Boone’s grade up (ahead of 35% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (20.6%, U.S. 11.9%).
Where students are 15% or more of the people the Census checks for poverty (51% here), the grade uses the rate without them: 20.6%, against 51.2% for all residents. Unemployment (12.0%) is left out here: students looking for part-time work count as unemployed. Income is ranked as median family income ($77,123), since student households pull the household median down ($30,065).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for family income and poverty, Boone could be anywhere from D to B+.
Who commutes out of Boone, and who commutes in
On a workday 3,249 residents head out to work, 1,921 work right here, and 12,328 people come in from elsewhere.
About 29,000 people are in Boone on a workday afternoon, 46% more than live here.
2.8 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.
Commuting in to Boone: where workers come from
Where Boone clocks in
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.
About 16 minutes to work from Boone
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Boone workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 7,537 commuters (the 10% 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.
Services make up most of the work in Boone
14,249 jobs are based in Boone.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Boone, 2013 → 2023: 12,884 → 14,249. 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 Boone’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Boone
About 33% 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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Boone
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Boone is more walkable than 96% of U.S. towns, #4 of 290 in North Carolina. Both inputs place Boone 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 8,382 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). 6.6% of Boone households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 5% of Boone’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Boone compares with U.S. towns of 14,000 to 27,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ada Township MI | 14,769 | $168K | 2.0% | 0.7% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 31 | Weddington NC | 14,517 | $191K | 4.0% | 1.8% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 135 | Harrisburg NC | 20,742 | $148K | 3.7% | 3.0% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 180 | Wendell NC | 19,687 | $96K | 3.2% | 1.3% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,723 | Le Ray NY | 24,259 | $63K | 13.0% | 8.5% | 6% | C− |
| 1,724 | Laurel MS | 17,662 | $48K | 23.3% | 5.6% | 46% | C− |
| 1,725 | Boone NC | 19,929 | $30K | 51.2% | 12.0% | 37% | C− |
| 1,726 | Wheeling WV | 25,680 | $49K | 20.5% | 6.5% | 40% | C− |
| 1,727 | Gainesville TX | 18,528 | $59K | 19.1% | 8.1% | 28% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,860 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Boone, the top three, the last and three more from North Carolina.
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.
- Students. 66% of residents are college students; the poverty input leaves off-campus students out (above).
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Boone: questions
What is the median household income in Boone?
$30,065 (±$5,963) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Boone?
51.2% of residents live below the poverty line; leaving out college students, 20.6%. North Carolina: 13.0%.
How long is the commute from Boone?
16 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Boone work?
37% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Charlotte (5%, 84 mi), Blowing Rock (4%, 6 mi), Asheville (3%, 67 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Boone walkable?
Boone is more walkable than 96% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 10.5 out of 20, and 19% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Boone without a car?
5% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Boone, from the people who make the trip.
More of Boone
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.