Photo: Elizabeth B. Thomsen Ethomsen · CC BY 2.5With 0.5 jobs for every working resident, most of Carrboro works elsewhere
4,714 jobs are based in Carrboro; 9,294 of its residents have a job. Measured by family income, Carrboro is ahead of 82% of U.S. towns. 27% of workers work from home, next to 16% for North Carolina as a whole.
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 Carrboro
A lot of Carrboro works from home
27% of Carrboro workers work from home, against 16% across North Carolina. Time on the road ↓
28% of Carrboro works in Chapel Hill
2,613 working residents, 28%, have their main job in Chapel Hill, 2.6 miles away across the town line. That’s 4 times as many as work in Carrboro itself. The commute map ↓
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.
Jobs & income in Carrboro: the grade in detail
On family income, poverty and job access, Carrboro is better than 79% of U.S. towns, #46 of 290 in North Carolina. Family income is its strongest input ($127,500, U.S. $99,999); the poverty rate ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (8.7%, U.S. 11.9%). It also does well on the poverty rate and job access by car.
17% of Carrboro’s residents are college students, and off-campus students count in the Census poverty figures. Where students are 15% or more of the people the Census checks for poverty (18% here), the grade uses the rate without them: 8.7%, against 12.2% for all residents. Unemployment (3.6%) is left out here: students looking for part-time work count as unemployed. Income is ranked as median family income ($127,500), since student households pull the household median down ($85,743).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for family income and poverty, Carrboro could be anywhere from B+ to A.
About 23 minutes each way for Carrboro’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Carrboro workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 8,686 commuters (the 27% 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.
28% of working residents work in Chapel Hill
Where Carrboro clocks in
28% of workers
17% of workers
10% 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 leaves Carrboro for work, and who comes in
On a workday 8,669 residents head out to work, 625 work right here, and 4,089 people come in from elsewhere.
About 16,000 people are in Carrboro on a workday afternoon, 22% fewer 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.
The kinds of work in Carrboro
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Carrboro, 2013 → 2023: 3,959 → 4,714. 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 Carrboro’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Miles to work from Carrboro
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.
Carrboro is more walkable than 97% of U.S. towns
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 11,934 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 83% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 50% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 13.6 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 96% 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). 9.2% of Carrboro households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 10% of Carrboro’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Carrboro is 606th among 1,705 U.S. towns of 15,000 to 28,000
| # | 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 | Wolf Trap VA | 15,858 | $250K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 125 | Harrisburg NC | 20,742 | $148K | 3.7% | 3.0% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 163 | Wendell NC | 19,687 | $96K | 3.2% | 1.3% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 394 | Knightdale NC | 23,144 | $103K | 5.3% | 3.4% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 604 | Wailuku HI | 16,926 | $103K | 4.6% | 3.1% | 19% | A− |
| 605 | Fresno TX | 24,560 | $91K | 8.6% | 3.7% | <1% | A− |
| 606 | Carrboro NC | 20,962 | $86K | 12.2% | 3.6% | 7% | A− |
| 607 | Belchertown MA | 15,265 | $108K | 8.5% | 2.4% | 11% | A− |
| 608 | Golden Valley MN | 21,325 | $109K | 9.1% | 4.6% | 8% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,705 | 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 Carrboro, the top three, the last and three more from North Carolina.
Next door is work for 28% of Carrboro
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Carrboro workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carrboro | – | A− | A+ | 23 min | $85,743 |
| Chapel Hill | 28% | A | A+ | 20 min | $85,989 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Chapel Hill. Darker towns draw more of Carrboro’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.
- Students. 17% 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 Carrboro: questions
What is the median household income in Carrboro?
$85,743 (±$13,984) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Carrboro?
12.2% of residents live below the poverty line; leaving out college students, 8.7%. North Carolina: 13.0%.
How long is the commute from Carrboro?
23 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 27% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Carrboro work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Chapel Hill (28%, 3 mi), Durham (17%, 11 mi), Raleigh (10%, 26 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Carrboro walkable?
Carrboro is more walkable than 97% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 11.4 out of 20, and 21% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Carrboro without a car?
10% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. 50% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Carrboro, from the people who make the trip.
More of Carrboro
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.