Lewis-Thornburg Farm · Photo: James Conder · CC BY-SA 3.0Denton has lower household incomes than 87% of U.S. towns
14.8% of residents are in poverty, against 13.0% across North Carolina. Jobs and income earn Denton C−; getting around on foot earns it C+. For 6% of workers, the job is at home; North Carolina has 16%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Denton apart
Denton makes and builds things
41% of the jobs based in Denton are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Denton residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 27%. The jobs ↓
Denton workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 31 minutes each way, against 25 across North Carolina. Over a year that’s about 238 hours of commuting, 46 more than the state’s typical 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 605 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Denton’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Denton is better than 17% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Denton’s grade up (ahead of 36% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($50,847, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (8.8%) is left out: Denton’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, Denton could be anywhere from D to C+.
41% of the jobs in Denton make or build things
727 jobs are based in Denton.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Denton, 2013 → 2023: 870 → 727. 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 Denton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The trip to work from Denton: about 31 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Denton workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 637 commuters (the 6% 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 daily commute in and out of Denton
On a workday 555 residents head out to work, 50 work right here, and 677 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 (1.20 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.
7% of working residents work in High Point
Where Denton clocks in
7% 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.
How many miles Denton commutes
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.
The commute in Denton is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Denton is more walkable than 39% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Denton 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 676 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 under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 7.9% of Denton households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Denton’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Denton ranks: 4,576th of 6,161 U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,200
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 73 | Governors Club NC | 1,787 | $236K | 0.0% | 8.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 100 | Biltmore Forest NC | 1,469 | $169K | 2.0% | 2.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 315 | Northlakes NC | 1,716 | $101K | 2.0% | 1.0% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,574 | Hartley IA | 1,579 | $58K | 12.5% | 2.5% | 14% | C− |
| 4,575 | La Plata MO | 1,251 | $50K | 9.1% | 8.8% | 13% | C− |
| 4,576 | Denton NC | 1,610 | $51K | 14.8% | 8.8% | 8% | C− |
| 4,577 | Arlington Township MI | 1,947 | $65K | 17.4% | 5.7% | 4% | C− |
| 4,578 | West Turin NY | 1,680 | $69K | 13.2% | 4.5% | 6% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 6,161 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | 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 Denton, 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 Denton: questions
What is the median household income in Denton?
$50,847 (±$5,160) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Denton?
14.8%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Denton?
31 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Denton work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are High Point (7%, 25 mi), Charlotte (7%, 50 mi), Thomasville (6%, 17 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Denton walkable?
Denton is more walkable than 39% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 6.5 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Denton without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Denton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Denton
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.