Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 3.0Elk Park has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.2 for each
32% of workers work from home (North Carolina 16%). Elk Park has 33 jobs, and 207 of its residents work somewhere. Hardly any stay in Elk Park for work; outside it, Banner Elk is the main destination (4%, 6 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Elk Park and work: the main findings
Elk Park is a place people come home to
There are 33 jobs based in Elk Park, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Elk Park has about 380 people in it, 32% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
A lot of Elk Park works from home
32% of Elk Park workers work from home, against 16% across North Carolina. 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 207 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Who works in Elk Park, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 207 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 33 people come in from elsewhere.
About 380 people are in Elk Park on a workday afternoon, 32% 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 daily trip from Elk Park: about 25 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Elk Park workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 113 commuters (the 32% 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 Elk Park goes to work
Where Elk Park clocks in
4% 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.
A place that makes things: 30% of Elk Park’s jobs are in goods
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Elk Park, 2013 → 2023: 25 → 33. 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 Elk Park’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Elk Park’s workers travel
About 22% 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 Elk Park: questions
What is the median household income in Elk Park?
$41,583 (±$6,682) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Elk Park?
33.4%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Elk Park?
25 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 32% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Elk Park work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Banner Elk (4%, 6 mi), Sugar Mountain (4%, 7 mi), Boone (4%, 18 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Elk Park without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 17% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Elk Park, from the people who make the trip.
More of Elk Park
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.