Photo: Harrison Keely · CC BY 4.0Flat Rock has 0.5 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Flat Rock has 589 jobs, against 1,138 working residents. The two grades for Flat Rock are B for jobs and income and C− for walkability. For 34% 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
Work in Flat Rock, in a few figures
A lot of Flat Rock works from home
34% of Flat Rock workers work from home, against 16% across North Carolina. Time on the road ↓
Flat Rock has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Flat Rock went from 406 in 2013 to 589 in 2023, +45%. 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.
The four measures behind Flat Rock’s grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Flat Rock is better than 58% of U.S. towns, #107 of 290 in North Carolina. Household income holds Flat Rock’s grade up ($95,098, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down (5.1%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on the poverty rate.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Flat Rock could be anywhere from C to A.
About 25 minutes each way, about the NC average
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.1 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 647 commuters (the 34% 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 Flat Rock’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Flat Rock, 2013 → 2023: 406 → 589. 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.
The daily commute in and out of Flat Rock
On a workday 1,101 residents head out to work, 37 work right here, and 552 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,100 people are in Flat Rock on a workday afternoon, 15% 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.
19% of working residents work in Hendersonville
Where Flat Rock clocks in
19% of workers
6% 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Flat Rock
About 24% 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.
For most of Flat Rock, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Flat Rock is more walkable than 22% of U.S. towns, #232 of 290 in North Carolina. 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 985 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). 0.0% 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.
For jobs and income, Flat Rock is 1,770th of 4,210 U.S. towns of 2,600 to 4,900
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 86 | Jamestown NC | 3,803 | $105K | 2.5% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 123 | Avery Creek NC | 2,887 | $113K | 1.4% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 188 | Fairview NC | 3,805 | $99K | 1.8% | 1.8% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,768 | Inverness Highlands North FL | 2,830 | $63K | 7.5% | 0.8% | 1% | B |
| 1,769 | Delmar MD | 4,896 | $85K | 10.0% | 4.1% | 1% | B |
| 1,770 | Flat Rock NC | 3,643 | $95K | 7.6% | 5.1% | 3% | B |
| 1,771 | Quarryville PA | 2,871 | $80K | 14.3% | 2.8% | 6% | B |
| 1,772 | Gerrish Township MI | 2,839 | $96K | 6.6% | 2.9% | 8% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 4,210 | 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 Flat Rock, the top three, the last and three more from North Carolina.
Work next door: 22% of Flat Rock’s workers
The biggest share goes to Hendersonville (19%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Flat Rock workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flat Rock | – | B | C− | 25 min | $95,098 |
| East Flat Rock | 3% | C | B+ | 18 min | $59,583 |
| Hendersonville | 19% | C+ | A− | 19 min | $53,449 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
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?
$95,098 (±$18,104) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Flat Rock?
7.6%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Flat Rock?
25 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 34% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Flat Rock work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Hendersonville (19%, 4 mi), Asheville (12%, 22 mi), Charlotte (6%, 92 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Flat Rock walkable?
Flat Rock is more walkable than 22% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 6.9 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 0% 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.