Surry County Courthouse · Photo: G Keith Hall · CC BY-SA 3.0Dobson has lower household incomes than 94% of U.S. towns
Dobson grades D for jobs and income and C for walkability. Poverty touches 22.4% of residents, where North Carolina as a whole has 13.0%. 5% 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
What sets Dobson apart on work
Dobson fills up on a workday
Dobson has 2,877 jobs, 5.0 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 3,800 people are in town, more than double the 1,500 who live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Dobson are quick
The average trip to work takes 18 minutes, against 25 across North Carolina. That’s about 54 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 574 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Dobson
On income, poverty and job access, Dobson is better than 6% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Dobson’s grade up (ahead of 26% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($43,750, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (4.9%) is left out: Dobson’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, Dobson could be anywhere from D− to C+.
Dobson by day and by night
On a workday 474 residents head out to work, 100 work right here, and 2,777 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,800 people are in Dobson on a workday afternoon, 156% more than live here.
5.0 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
About 18 minutes each way, quicker than most of North Carolina
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Dobson workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 561 commuters (the 5% 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.
Where Dobson’s workforce comes from
Where Dobson clocks in
16% of workers
4% 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 2,877 jobs based in Dobson
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Dobson, 2013 → 2023: 2,977 → 2,877. 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 Dobson’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Dobson’s commute, mile by mile
About 24% 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 Dobson is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Dobson is more walkable than 27% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any 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 593 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). 19.1% of Dobson households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Dobson’s commuters take a bus or train.
Dobson places 5,618th of 6,308 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 1,000 to 2,000
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 75 | Governors Club NC | 1,787 | $236K | 0.0% | 8.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 96 | Biltmore Forest NC | 1,469 | $169K | 2.0% | 2.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 293 | Northlakes NC | 1,716 | $101K | 2.0% | 1.0% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 5,616 | Urania LA | 1,155 | $47K | 15.4% | 6.0% | 2% | D |
| 5,617 | Crystal Falls MI | 1,607 | $61K | 21.0% | 5.8% | 15% | D |
| 5,618 | Dobson NC | 1,474 | $44K | 22.4% | 4.9% | 17% | D |
| 5,619 | Shady Point OK | 1,010 | $52K | 24.3% | 5.4% | 1% | D |
| 5,620 | Spring City TN | 1,989 | $39K | 18.3% | 9.1% | 7% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 6,308 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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 Dobson, 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 Dobson: questions
What is the median household income in Dobson?
$43,750 (±$18,601) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Dobson?
22.4%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Dobson?
18 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Dobson work?
17% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Mount Airy (16%, 10 mi), Winston-Salem (7%, 33 mi), Elkin (4%, 11 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Dobson walkable?
Dobson is more walkable than 27% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 7.4 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Dobson without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 19% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Dobson, from the people who make the trip.
More of Dobson
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.