North Carolina Granite Corporation Quarry Complex · Photo: Nmg27510 · Public domainHousehold incomes in Flat Rock trail those of 95% of U.S. towns
Poverty touches 11.9% of residents; North Carolina has 13.0%. For jobs and income Flat Rock is better than 24% of U.S. towns (C−); for walkability it is more walkable than 16% of U.S. towns (C−). At home: 5% of workers have no commute at all (North Carolina 16%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Flat Rock apart
Flat Rock and Mount Airy trade workers both ways
Mount Airy is the top workplace for Flat Rock residents (29%) and also where the most people who work in Flat Rock come from (14% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Flat Rock is a place people come home to
There are 148 jobs based in Flat Rock, about three for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Flat Rock has about 650 people in it, 39% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Flat Rock are quick
The average trip to work takes 18 minutes, against 25 across North Carolina. That’s about 54 hours a year less on the road than the typical North Carolina 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 559 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Inside Flat Rock’s Jobs & income grade
Job access by car holds Flat Rock’s grade up (ahead of 50% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($42,018, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (3.9%) is left out: Flat Rock’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Flat Rock could be anywhere from D to B.
29% of working residents work in Mount Airy
Where Flat Rock clocks in
29% of workers
5% 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.
How many people are in Flat Rock by day
On a workday 556 residents head out to work, 3 work right here, and 145 people come in from elsewhere.
About 650 people are in Flat Rock on a workday afternoon, 39% fewer than live here.
0.26 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
From Flat Rock, about 18 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Flat Rock workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 421 commuters (the 5% 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.
Goods, not services: 55% of the jobs in Flat Rock
148 jobs are based in Flat Rock.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Flat Rock, 2013 → 2023: 207 → 148. 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 Flat Rock’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Flat Rock’s workers travel
About 26% 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 Flat Rock, the car does most of the work
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 2.9% across North Carolina.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 444 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). 10.3% of Flat Rock households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Flat Rock’s commuters take a bus or train.
Flat Rock places 1,976th of 3,133 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 700 to 1,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 158 | Montreat NC | 1,024 | $116K | 0.0% | 9.6% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 263 | Stem NC | 1,023 | $96K | 3.0% | 1.1% | 0% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 302 | Brandywine Bay NC | 1,313 | $105K | 1.2% | 12.1% | 0% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,974 | Beaugrand Township MI | 1,093 | $62K | 8.3% | 1.4% | 1% | C− |
| 1,975 | Horton Township PA | 1,309 | $54K | 7.4% | 1.3% | 1% | C− |
| 1,976 | Flat Rock NC | 1,062 | $42K | 11.9% | 3.9% | 1% | C− |
| 1,977 | Kootenai ID | 1,091 | $71K | 13.2% | 5.5% | 2% | C− |
| 1,978 | Loyal WI | 1,190 | $65K | 11.8% | 6.4% | 13% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,133 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Flat Rock, the top three, the last and three more from North Carolina.
Work next door: 29% of Flat Rock’s workers
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Flat Rock workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flat Rock | – | C− | C− | 18 min | $42,018 |
| Mount Airy | 29% | C− | B | 18 min | $40,275 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Mount Airy. Darker towns draw more of Flat Rock’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 Flat Rock: questions
What is the median household income in Flat Rock?
$42,018 (±$7,210) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Flat Rock?
11.9%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Flat Rock?
18 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Flat Rock work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Mount Airy (29%, 2 mi), Winston-Salem (12%, 33 mi), Charlotte (5%, 91 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Flat Rock walkable?
Flat Rock is more walkable than 16% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 6.3 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Flat Rock without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Flat Rock, from the people who make the trip.
More of Flat Rock
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.