Photo: Public domain, City of Fayetteville · Public domainFayetteville has higher unemployment (7.9%) than 88% of U.S. towns
Household incomes here are lower than in 76% of U.S. towns. Jobs and income earn Fayetteville C−; getting around on foot earns it A−. For 8% of workers, the job is at home, against 16% across North Carolina.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Fayetteville apart
Commutes from Fayetteville are quick
The average trip to work takes 19 minutes, against 25 across North Carolina. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical North Carolina worker. Time on the road ↓
Fewer than half of Fayetteville workers earn over $40,000 a year
44% of Fayetteville’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 18% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
Fayetteville draws workers from far and wide
The 81,318 jobs in Fayetteville are filled from a wide area. Fayetteville’s own residents hold 33% and the ten next-biggest home towns 11%; the other 56% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
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.
Where Fayetteville’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Fayetteville is better than 23% of U.S. towns, #212 of 290 in North Carolina. Job access by car holds Fayetteville’s grade up (ahead of 69% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Fayetteville could be anywhere from C− to C.
A commute of about 19 minutes in Fayetteville
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Fayetteville workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 94,169 commuters (the 8% 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.
What the 81,318 jobs in Fayetteville are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fayetteville, 2013 → 2023: 74,908 → 81,318. 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 Fayetteville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
5% of working residents work in Raleigh
Where Fayetteville clocks in
5% 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.
The daily flow of workers through Fayetteville
On a workday 35,250 residents head out to work, 26,846 work right here, and 54,472 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 (1.31 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.
The commute from Fayetteville, by distance
About 30% 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 Fayetteville, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Fayetteville is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns, #47 of 290 in North Carolina.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 102,035 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). 7.8% of Fayetteville households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Fayetteville’s commuters take a bus or train.
These are town averages; neighborhoods differ.
How Fayetteville compares with U.S. towns of 146,000 to 282,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Hempstead NY | 238,982 | $158K | 4.5% | 4.1% | 20% | A |
| 2 | Frisco TX | 236,955 | $150K | 3.6% | 4.6% | 14% | A |
| 3 | Olathe KS | 150,025 | $114K | 5.6% | 2.7% | 26% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 8 | Cary NC | 183,582 | $135K | 5.7% | 3.5% | 19% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 102 | Winston-Salem NC | 257,271 | $59K | 17.7% | 5.7% | 48% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 120 | Savannah GA | 149,440 | $57K | 19.7% | 7.2% | 51% | C |
| 121 | Columbia SC | 147,035 | $56K | 24.0% | 7.5% | 40% | C− |
| 122 | Fayetteville NC | 209,120 | $58K | 17.7% | 7.9% | 43% | C− |
| 123 | Buffalo NY | 274,613 | $50K | 26.0% | 7.3% | 42% | C− |
| 124 | Rockford IL | 147,384 | $55K | 21.3% | 8.5% | 45% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 134 | Macon-Bibb County GA | 157,556 | $51K | 24.7% | 8.1% | 53% | 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 Fayetteville, the top three, the last and three more from North Carolina.
How Fayetteville compares with the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Hope Mills (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Fayetteville workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fayetteville | – | C− | A− | 19 min | $58,407 |
| Spring Lake | 1% | C− | A− | 19 min | $51,958 |
| Rockfish | under 1% | C+ | D | 33 min | $64,476 |
| Hope Mills | 2% | C | C | 27 min | $65,774 |
| Vander | under 1% | C | D | 27 min | $66,993 |
| Eastover | under 1% | C+ | D | 23 min | $85,156 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Fayetteville’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.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Fayetteville: questions
What is the median household income in Fayetteville?
$58,407 (±$1,606) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Fayetteville?
17.7%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Fayetteville?
19 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Fayetteville work?
43% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Raleigh (5%, 55 mi), Charlotte (3%, 105 mi), Hope Mills (2%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Fayetteville walkable?
Fayetteville is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.0 out of 20, and 8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Fayetteville without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Fayetteville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fayetteville
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.