Photo: Townofduck · Public domainDuck draws 986 commuters a day, with 3.8 jobs for every working resident
About one in ten work in Duck; the top destination outside it is Kitty Hawk (14%, 8 miles). Employers in Duck report 1,011 jobs for 263 working residents. Working from home is the commute for 50% of workers; North Carolina has 16%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Duck: the figures worth knowing
Duck fills up on a workday
Duck has 1,011 jobs, 3.8 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 1,500 people are in town, more than double the 740 who live here. Day and night ↓
A lot of Duck works from home
51% of Duck workers work from home, against 16% across North Carolina. Time on the road ↓
Duck’s workforce skews older
39% of Duck’s working residents are 55 or older. The jobs ↓
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 263 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How many people are in Duck by day
On a workday 238 residents head out to work and 25 work right here.
About 1,500 people are in Duck on a workday afternoon, 102% more 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 trip to work from Duck: about 31 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Duck workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 152 commuters (the 50% 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.
Duck is a services town
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Duck, 2013 → 2023: 806 → 1,011. 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 Duck’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who travels to work in Duck, and from where
Where Duck clocks in
11% of workers
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.
The commute from Duck, by distance
About 29% 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.
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 Duck: questions
What is the median household income in Duck?
$136,250 (±$48,364) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Duck?
10.8%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Duck?
31 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 50% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Duck work?
10% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Kitty Hawk (14%, 8 mi), Kill Devil Hills (11%, 13 mi), Southern Shores (7%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Duck without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Duck, from the people who make the trip.
More of Duck
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.