Most of Fairfield Harbour commutes out: there are 0.1 jobs for every working resident
Only 1% work in Fairfield Harbour itself; outside it, New Bern draws the most (30%, 6 miles). Fairfield Harbour has 112 jobs for 944 working residents. Jobs and income earn Fairfield Harbour C+; getting around on foot earns it C.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Fairfield Harbour and work: the main findings
Fairfield Harbour is a place people come home to
There are 112 jobs based in Fairfield Harbour, about one for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Fairfield Harbour has about 2,100 people in it, 28% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
30% of Fairfield Harbour works in New Bern
287 working residents, 30%, have their main job in New Bern, 6.2 miles away. That’s 30 times as many as work in Fairfield Harbour itself. The commute map ↓
Fairfield Harbour workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 33 minutes each way, against 25 across North Carolina. Over a year that’s about 253 hours of commuting, 61 more than the state’s typical 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 944 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where Fairfield Harbour’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty and job access, Fairfield Harbour is better than 36% of U.S. towns, #172 of 290 in North Carolina. The poverty rate holds Fairfield Harbour’s grade up (7.1%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 8% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (4.5%) is left out: Fairfield Harbour’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Fairfield Harbour could be anywhere from C− to B−.
In and out of Fairfield Harbour on a workday
On a workday 930 residents head out to work, 14 work right here, and 98 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,100 people are in Fairfield Harbour on a workday afternoon, 28% 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.
Where Fairfield Harbour’s working residents head each day
Where Fairfield Harbour clocks in
30% of workers
5% 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.
The daily trip from Fairfield Harbour: about 33 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Fairfield Harbour workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 620 commuters (the 22% 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.
Most jobs in Fairfield Harbour are in services
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fairfield Harbour, 2013 → 2023: 69 → 112. 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 Fairfield Harbour’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Short hops and long hauls from Fairfield Harbour
About 28% 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 Fairfield Harbour, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Fairfield Harbour is more walkable than 34% of U.S. towns, #182 of 290 in North Carolina. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 2.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 2.9% across North Carolina, on an EPA index of 5.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 798 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). 1.6% of Fairfield Harbour households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Fairfield Harbour’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 2,100 to 4,000, Fairfield Harbour ranks 2,936th of 4,618 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 79 | Jamestown NC | 3,803 | $105K | 2.5% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 112 | Avery Creek NC | 2,887 | $113K | 1.4% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 167 | Wrightsville Beach NC | 2,397 | $152K | 4.0% | 0.4% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,934 | Otsego Lake Township MI | 2,968 | $73K | 10.2% | 4.1% | 1% | C+ |
| 2,935 | Suttons Bay Township MI | 2,959 | $116K | 10.3% | 10.5% | 23% | C+ |
| 2,936 | Fairfield Harbour NC | 2,948 | $73K | 7.1% | 4.5% | 1% | C+ |
| 2,937 | Conway PA | 2,122 | $66K | 15.5% | 6.7% | 3% | C+ |
| 2,938 | Chamberlain SD | 2,453 | $77K | 12.1% | 3.2% | 38% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,618 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 12% | 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 Fairfield Harbour, 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 Fairfield Harbour: questions
What is the median household income in Fairfield Harbour?
$72,583 (±$10,380) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Fairfield Harbour?
7.1%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Fairfield Harbour?
33 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 22% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Fairfield Harbour work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are New Bern (30%, 6 mi), Greenville (5%, 43 mi), Raleigh (4%, 108 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Fairfield Harbour walkable?
Fairfield Harbour is more walkable than 34% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 5.2 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Fairfield Harbour without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Fairfield Harbour, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fairfield Harbour
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.