Photo: Ak1047 · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in Burlington have lower incomes than those in 79% of U.S. towns
Burlington grades C for jobs and income and B− for walkability. Below the poverty line: 16.4% of residents, against 13.0% across North Carolina. About one in four stay in Burlington for work; outside it, Greensboro is the main destination (10%, 20 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Burlington in brief
Burlington’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Burlington is better than 28% of U.S. towns, #192 of 290 in North Carolina. Job access by car holds Burlington’s grade up (ahead of 74% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($56,880, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Burlington could be anywhere from C− to C+.
Where the trip to work from Burlington ends
Where Burlington clocks in
10% of workers
8% of workers
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.
Who commutes out of Burlington, and who commutes in
On a workday 18,477 residents head out to work, 6,520 work right here, and 29,031 people come in from elsewhere.
About 72,000 people are in Burlington on a workday afternoon, 17% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.42 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
What the 35,551 jobs in Burlington are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Burlington, 2013 → 2023: 32,748 → 35,551. 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 Burlington’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting from Burlington: about 24 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Burlington workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 24,891 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.
The commute from Burlington, by distance
About 17% 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.
Burlington is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Burlington is more walkable than 46% of U.S. towns, #133 of 290 in North Carolina. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.9% 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 27,584 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 41% 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). 7.1% of Burlington households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Burlington’s commuters take a bus or train.
Burlington next to U.S. towns of 43,000 to 83,000: 640th of 720 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 29 | Huntersville NC | 68,535 | $121K | 3.1% | 3.2% | 10% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 43 | Apex NC | 80,419 | $144K | 2.2% | 3.8% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 64 | Chapel Hill NC | 63,565 | $86K | 18.6% | 4.5% | 27% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 638 | Lancaster PA | 58,366 | $64K | 20.3% | 8.1% | 22% | C |
| 639 | St. Cloud MN | 72,647 | $61K | 20.2% | 6.0% | 44% | C |
| 640 | Burlington NC | 61,496 | $57K | 16.4% | 6.5% | 26% | C |
| 641 | Logan UT | 55,576 | $61K | 22.3% | 2.6% | 35% | C |
| 642 | Lake Havasu City AZ | 59,358 | $70K | 14.1% | 5.0% | 52% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 720 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 Burlington, the top three, the last and three more from North Carolina.
How Burlington compares with the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Graham (5%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Burlington workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Burlington | – | C | B− | 24 min | $56,880 |
| Glen Raven | under 2% | B− | D | 24 min | $63,173 |
| Graham | 5% | C | C+ | 26 min | $56,239 |
| Elon | 3% | B+ | A− | 20 min | $84,773 |
| Gibsonville | under 2% | A− | C | 27 min | $95,861 |
| Haw River | under 2% | B− | C | 33 min | $61,058 |
| Whitsett | under 2% | — | — | 32 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Whitsett: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Burlington’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 Burlington: questions
What is the median household income in Burlington?
$56,880 (±$5,084) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Burlington?
16.4%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Burlington?
24 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 Burlington work?
26% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Greensboro (10%, 20 mi), Durham (8%, 33 mi), Raleigh (5%, 49 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Burlington walkable?
Burlington is more walkable than 46% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 8.0 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Burlington without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Burlington, from the people who make the trip.
More of Burlington
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.