Elon College Historic District · Photo: MPD01605 from Sterling, Virginia, United States, United States · CC BY-SA 2.048% of Elon’s residents are college students
Family incomes here are higher than in 72% of U.S. towns. Jobs and income earn Elon B+; getting around on foot earns it A−. Working residents average 20 minutes each way, next to 25 for North Carolina and 26 for the U.S.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The short version on getting to work from Elon
Elon trades workers with the towns around it
Elon has about as many jobs (3,763) as working residents (4,140), but they are mostly different people: 3,863 residents leave for work each day while 3,486 people come in. Only 7% of the jobs in Elon are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Elon and Burlington trade workers both ways
Burlington is the top workplace for Elon residents (22%) and also where the most people who work in Elon come from (18% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Commutes from Elon 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, and quicker than any town next door (24 to 27 minutes). Time on the road ↓
Nearly all the work in Elon is services
87% of the jobs based here are in services, such as health care, schools and offices. Only 9% are in factories, building or farms. 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.
How Elon earns its Jobs & income grade
Job access by car holds Elon’s grade up (ahead of 73% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (10.1%, U.S. 11.9%). It also does well on family income.
Where students are 15% or more of the people the Census checks for poverty (16% here), the grade uses the rate without them: 10.1%, against 20.0% for all residents. Unemployment (5.1%) is left out here: students looking for part-time work count as unemployed. Income is ranked as median family income ($112,500), since student households pull the household median down ($84,773).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for family income and poverty, Elon could be anywhere from C+ to A+.
The workday shuffle in and out of Elon
On a workday 3,863 residents head out to work, 277 work right here, and 3,486 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 (0.91 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.
22% of working residents work in Burlington
Where Elon clocks in
22% of workers
11% of workers
10% 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 trip to work from Elon: about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Elon workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,538 commuters (the 12% 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.
Health, schools and offices: most of the jobs in Elon
3,763 jobs are based in Elon.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Elon, 2013 → 2023: 2,974 → 3,763. 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 Elon’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far it is to work from Elon
About 21% 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.
Elon is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Elon is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns, #17 of 290 in North Carolina. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 23.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 2.9% across North Carolina, on an EPA index of 7.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 4,036 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). 3.1% of Elon households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Elon’s commuters take a bus or train.
975th of 2,507: where Elon ranks among U.S. towns of 8,000 to 15,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 56 | Weddington NC | 14,517 | $191K | 4.0% | 1.8% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 270 | Rolesville NC | 12,839 | $150K | 1.1% | 3.7% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 343 | Summerfield NC | 11,327 | $160K | 7.1% | 2.1% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 973 | Minnehaha WA | 11,482 | $101K | 5.6% | 6.8% | 1% | B+ |
| 974 | Spanish Fort AL | 11,203 | $99K | 5.8% | 4.4% | 8% | B+ |
| 975 | Elon NC | 11,366 | $85K | 20.0% | 5.1% | 7% | B+ |
| 976 | Pleasant Valley NY | 9,822 | $102K | 6.5% | 3.8% | 6% | B+ |
| 977 | Oak Park CA | 13,757 | $163K | 4.2% | 7.0% | 6% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,507 | Roma TX | 11,543 | $25K | 37.1% | 12.4% | 22% | 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 Elon, the top three, the last and three more from North Carolina.
Work next door: 22% of Elon’s workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Elon workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elon | – | B+ | A− | 20 min | $84,773 |
| Burlington | 22% | C | B− | 24 min | $56,880 |
| Glen Raven | under 2% | B− | D | 24 min | $63,173 |
| Gibsonville | under 2% | A− | C | 27 min | $95,861 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Burlington. Darker towns draw more of Elon’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.
- Students. 48% of residents are college students; the poverty input leaves off-campus students out (above).
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Elon: questions
What is the median household income in Elon?
$84,773 (±$19,982) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Elon?
20.0% of residents live below the poverty line; leaving out college students, 10.1%. North Carolina: 13.0%.
How long is the commute from Elon?
20 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Elon work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Burlington (22%, 3 mi), Greensboro (11%, 18 mi), Durham (10%, 35 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Elon walkable?
Elon is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.3 out of 20, and 23% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Elon without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Elon, from the people who make the trip.
More of Elon
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.