Photo: DiscoA340 · CC BY-SA 4.0Fewer people are out of work in Emerald Isle (1.2%) than in 93% of U.S. towns
Emerald Isle grades B+ for jobs and income and A− for walkability. Home is the office for 27% of workers, next to 16% for North Carolina as a whole. About one in five work in Emerald Isle itself; outside it, Jacksonville draws the most (7%, 21 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Emerald Isle in brief
Emerald Isle trades workers with the towns around it
Emerald Isle has about as many jobs (1,486) as working residents (1,274), but they are mostly different people: 1,017 residents leave for work each day while 1,229 people come in. Only 17% of the jobs in Emerald Isle are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
A lot of Emerald Isle works from home
27% of Emerald Isle workers work from home, against 16% across North Carolina. Time on the road ↓
A big share show a job far from home
38% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Emerald Isle has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Emerald Isle went from 1,038 in 2013 to 1,486 in 2023, +43%. The jobs ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Emerald Isle
56% of Emerald Isle residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 38% of the jobs based in Emerald Isle pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 80% leave town for their job. 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Emerald Isle’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Emerald Isle is better than 70% of U.S. towns, #73 of 290 in North Carolina. Unemployment holds Emerald Isle’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 10% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Emerald Isle could be anywhere from B− to A−.
Who leaves Emerald Isle for work, and who comes in
On a workday 1,017 residents head out to work, 257 work right here, and 1,229 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 (1.17 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.
About 29 minutes to work from Emerald Isle
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Emerald Isle workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,081 commuters (the 27% 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 commute from Emerald Isle, by distance
About 38% 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 1,486 jobs based in Emerald Isle
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Emerald Isle, 2013 → 2023: 1,038 → 1,486. 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 Emerald Isle’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where Emerald Isle goes to work
Where Emerald Isle clocks in
7% of workers
3% 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.
Emerald Isle is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Emerald Isle is more walkable than 81% of U.S. towns, #27 of 290 in North Carolina. Both inputs place Emerald Isle near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,485 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). 1.0% of Emerald Isle households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Emerald Isle’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Emerald Isle is 1,285th among 4,177 U.S. towns of 2,800 to 5,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 88 | Jamestown NC | 3,803 | $105K | 2.5% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 131 | Avery Creek NC | 2,887 | $113K | 1.4% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 191 | Fairview NC | 3,805 | $99K | 1.8% | 1.8% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,283 | Randolph Township IL | 4,342 | $110K | 6.9% | 4.5% | 8% | B+ |
| 1,284 | Indian Head MD | 4,202 | $89K | 9.7% | 3.1% | 1% | B+ |
| 1,285 | Emerald Isle NC | 3,970 | $90K | 4.9% | 1.2% | 20% | B+ |
| 1,286 | Ridgemark CA | 3,403 | $130K | 4.6% | 4.4% | 2% | B+ |
| 1,287 | Santa Ynez CA | 4,467 | $111K | 13.0% | 0.8% | 9% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,177 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Emerald Isle, 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 Emerald Isle: questions
What is the median household income in Emerald Isle?
$89,773 (±$13,436) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Emerald Isle?
4.9%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Emerald Isle?
29 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 27% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Emerald Isle work?
20% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Jacksonville (7%, 21 mi), Morehead City (7%, 17 mi), New Bern (3%, 30 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Emerald Isle walkable?
Emerald Isle is more walkable than 81% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.2 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Emerald Isle 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 Emerald Isle, from the people who make the trip.
More of Emerald Isle
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.