Dortch House · Photo: Waterman, Thomas T., creator · Public domainDortches at work: jobs, income and the commute
There are 267 jobs in Dortches, against 423 working residents. The two grades for Dortches are B− for jobs and income and C− for walkability. Commuters spend 20 minutes getting to work on average; the North Carolina average is 25, the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Dortches in brief
Dortches and Rocky Mount trade workers both ways
Rocky Mount is the top workplace for Dortches residents (37%) and also where the most people who work in Dortches come from (22% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Commutes from Dortches are quick
The average trip to work takes 20 minutes, against 25 across North Carolina. That’s about 38 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 423 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The figures behind Dortches’ Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Dortches is better than 53% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Dortches’ grade. It also does well on the poverty rate.
Unemployment (1.5%) is left out: Dortches’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Dortches could be anywhere from C to A−.
37% of working residents work in Rocky Mount
Where Dortches clocks in
37% of workers
9% 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.
Each way, about 20 minutes from Dortches
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Dortches workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 390 commuters (the 14% 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 workday shuffle in and out of Dortches
On a workday 421 residents head out to work, 2 work right here, and 265 people come in from elsewhere.
About 950 people are in Dortches on a workday afternoon, 14% fewer than live here.
0.63 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.
Goods, not services: 37% of the jobs in Dortches
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Dortches, 2013 → 2023: 128 → 267. 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 Dortches’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Miles to work from Dortches
About 19% 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.
In Dortches, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Dortches is more walkable than 24% 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 453 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 20% 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 0.9 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 57% 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). 3.7% of Dortches households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Dortches’ commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Dortches is 1,144th of 3,771 U.S. towns of 800 to 1,500
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 55 | Biltmore Forest NC | 1,469 | $169K | 2.0% | 2.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 206 | Montreat NC | 1,024 | $116K | 0.0% | 9.6% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 235 | Advance NC | 1,408 | $115K | 5.0% | 0.0% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,142 | Worthington MA | 1,166 | $92K | 4.5% | 3.6% | 4% | B− |
| 1,143 | Glen Ellen CA | 1,078 | $202K | 26.0% | 4.1% | 4% | B− |
| 1,144 | Dortches NC | 1,103 | $75K | 9.4% | 1.5% | <1% | B− |
| 1,145 | Elizabethville PA | 1,347 | $69K | 5.4% | 0.6% | 4% | B− |
| 1,146 | Odell Township IL | 1,170 | $87K | 8.1% | 2.0% | 3% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,771 | 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 Dortches, the top three, the last and three more from North Carolina.
The towns next door employ 38% of Dortches
The biggest share goes to Rocky Mount (37%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Dortches workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dortches | – | B− | C− | 20 min | $74,500 |
| Rocky Mount | 37% | C− | B+ | 21 min | $55,534 |
| Red Oak | 1% | A | D− | 23 min | $90,214 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Dortches’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 Dortches: questions
What is the median household income in Dortches?
$74,500 (±$13,889) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Dortches?
9.4%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Dortches?
20 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Dortches work?
<1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Rocky Mount (37%, 4 mi), Raleigh (9%, 46 mi), Nashville (5%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Dortches walkable?
Dortches is more walkable than 24% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 7.1 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Dortches without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Dortches, from the people who make the trip.
More of Dortches
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.