Cape Hatteras Light Station · Photo: Henryhartley · CC BY-SA 3.0Where Buxton earns its living
About one in seven work in Buxton; the top destination outside it is Avon (16%, 7 miles). Getting around Buxton on foot earns A−. The trip to work takes 16 minutes on average, where North Carolina has 25 and the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Buxton and work: the main findings
A big share show a job far from home
41% 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 ↓
Commutes from Buxton 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 ↓
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 366 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Near or far: the trip to work from Buxton
About 41% 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.
Commuting from Buxton: about 16 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Buxton workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 613 commuters (the 16% 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.
Who leaves Buxton for work, and who comes in
On a workday 312 residents head out to work, 54 work right here, and 426 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.31 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.
Where the trip to work from Buxton ends
Where Buxton clocks in
7% of workers
6% 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 480 jobs based in Buxton
480 jobs are based in Buxton.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Buxton, 2013 → 2023: 463 → 480. 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 Buxton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Good to walk, short on transit: Buxton
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Buxton is more walkable than 85% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 16.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 2.9% across North Carolina, on an EPA index of 7.5.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 731 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). 6.2% of Buxton households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Buxton’s commuters take a bus or train.
Buxton and its neighbors
The biggest share goes to Frisco (7%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Buxton workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buxton | – | — | A− | 16 min | — |
| Frisco | 7% | — | — | 19 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Frisco: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Buxton’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 Buxton: questions
What is the poverty rate in Buxton?
6.7%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Buxton?
16 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 16% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Buxton work?
15% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Avon (16%, 7 mi), Frisco (7%, 3 mi), Raleigh (6%, 179 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Buxton walkable?
Buxton is more walkable than 85% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.5 out of 20, and 16% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Buxton without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Buxton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Buxton
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.