Photo: Harrison Keely · CC BY 4.0Brevard draws 4,493 commuters a day, with 1.9 jobs for every working resident
Measured by household income, Brevard is behind 83% of U.S. towns. Employers in Brevard report 5,426 jobs for 2,808 working residents. The two grades for Brevard are C for jobs and income and A for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Brevard
Brevard draws workers from far and wide
The 5,426 jobs in Brevard are filled from a wide area. Brevard’s own residents hold 17% and the ten next-biggest home towns 12%; the other 71% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Brevard is where the jobs are
Brevard has 5,426 jobs, 1.9 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Brevard 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 ↓
Brevard’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Brevard is Asheville, 24 miles away as the crow flies. 10% of working residents (267) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. 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.
The four measures behind Brevard’s grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Brevard is better than 26% of U.S. towns, #203 of 290 in North Carolina. Unemployment holds Brevard’s grade up (3.6%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($54,103, U.S. $80,734).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Brevard could be anywhere from D to B−.
Who travels to work in Brevard, and from where
Where Brevard clocks in
5% of workers
4% 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.
Brevard fills up on a workday
On a workday 1,875 residents head out to work and 933 work right here.
About 11,000 people are in Brevard on a workday afternoon, 32% 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.
Time on the road from Brevard: about 16 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Brevard workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,477 commuters (the 14% 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.
How far Brevard goes to work
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.
The kinds of work in Brevard
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Brevard, 2013 → 2023: 4,821 → 5,426. 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 Brevard’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Brevard is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Brevard is more walkable than 87% of U.S. towns, #13 of 290 in North Carolina. Both inputs place Brevard 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 2,865 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). 11.7% of Brevard households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Brevard’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Brevard is 2,388th of 2,966 U.S. towns of 5,700 to 10,900
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 190 | Oak Ridge NC | 7,896 | $155K | 3.6% | 2.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 362 | Ogden NC | 8,249 | $121K | 4.8% | 1.4% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 401 | Stokesdale NC | 6,133 | $121K | 5.6% | 1.9% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,386 | Charles City IA | 7,013 | $59K | 13.3% | 4.6% | 46% | C |
| 2,387 | Franklin KY | 10,759 | $59K | 17.1% | 6.2% | 34% | C |
| 2,388 | Brevard NC | 8,098 | $54K | 15.1% | 3.6% | 33% | C |
| 2,389 | Hanover NY | 6,808 | $72K | 14.2% | 6.5% | 24% | C |
| 2,390 | Hidden Valley Lake CA | 5,872 | $84K | 7.8% | 11.2% | 8% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 2,966 | 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 Brevard, 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.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Brevard: questions
What is the median household income in Brevard?
$54,103 (±$11,879) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Brevard?
15.1%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Brevard?
16 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Brevard work?
33% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Asheville (10%, 24 mi), Charlotte (5%, 107 mi), Hendersonville (4%, 16 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Brevard walkable?
Brevard is more walkable than 87% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.6 out of 20, and 8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Brevard without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Brevard, from the people who make the trip.
More of Brevard
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.