Photo: Shapard Wolf · CC BY-SA 3.0Burnsville has 2.0 jobs for every working resident: 1,018 people commute in to work
The two grades for Burnsville are D− for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. 1,091 jobs are based in Burnsville, and 554 of its residents work somewhere. Measured by household income, Burnsville is behind 87% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Burnsville at work: what stands out
The figures behind Burnsville’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Burnsville is better than 2% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Burnsville’s grade.
Unemployment (10.9%) is left out: Burnsville’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, Burnsville could be anywhere from D− to D.
Burnsville by day and by night
On a workday 481 residents head out to work and 73 work right here.
About 2,200 people are in Burnsville 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 2024, primary jobs.
Where Burnsville’s workforce comes from
Where Burnsville 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.
The kinds of work in Burnsville
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Burnsville, 2014 → 2024: 1,014 → 1,091. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Burnsville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Burnsville spends getting to work: about 28 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Burnsville workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 686 commuters (the 9% 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 Burnsville 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Most of Burnsville commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Burnsville is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Burnsville 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 758 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). 13.2% of Burnsville households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Burnsville’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Burnsville sits among U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,200
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 1% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 66 | Governors Club NC | 1,787 | $236K | 0.0% | 8.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 90 | Biltmore Forest NC | 1,469 | $169K | 2.0% | 2.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 283 | Northlakes NC | 1,716 | $101K | 2.0% | 1.0% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 5,139 | Twin City GA | 1,702 | $40K | 32.9% | 4.1% | 7% | D− |
| 5,140 | Culver IN | 1,256 | $43K | 36.7% | 6.8% | 14% | D− |
| 5,141 | Burnsville NC | 1,655 | $51K | 26.1% | 10.9% | 13% | D− |
| 5,142 | Celina TN | 1,412 | $32K | 28.0% | 22.2% | 17% | D− |
| 5,143 | Cienega Springs AZ | 1,958 | $47K | 20.1% | 7.4% | 8% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,381 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 7% | 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 Burnsville, 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 2024, 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 Burnsville: questions
What is the median household income in Burnsville?
$50,997 (±$6,679) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Burnsville?
26.1%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Burnsville?
28 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 Burnsville work?
13% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Spruce Pine (6%, 13 mi), Asheville (3%, 28 mi), Charlotte (3%, 96 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Burnsville walkable?
Burnsville is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.1 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Burnsville without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 13% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Burnsville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Burnsville
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.