Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0Fletcher has lower unemployment (3.0%) than 70% of U.S. towns
Working residents average 24 minutes each way (North Carolina 25, U.S. 26). Jobs and income earn Fletcher B+; getting around on foot earns it C+. Only 7% work in Fletcher; the top destination outside it is Asheville (34%, 10 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Fletcher in brief
Fletcher and Asheville trade workers both ways
Asheville is the top workplace for Fletcher residents (34%) and also where the most people who work in Fletcher come from (12% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Fletcher makes and builds things
43% of the jobs based in Fletcher are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Fletcher residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 18%. The jobs ↓
A longer commute than the towns next door
Fletcher averages 24 minutes each way, more than any bordering town (15 to 21 minutes). Next door ↓
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.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Fletcher
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Fletcher is better than 68% of U.S. towns, #77 of 290 in North Carolina. Unemployment holds Fletcher’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($75,272, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on the poverty rate and job access by car.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Fletcher could be anywhere from C+ to A.
Out of Fletcher to work: where people go
Where Fletcher 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.
Goods jobs make up 43% of work in Fletcher
4,567 jobs are based in Fletcher.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fletcher, 2013 → 2023: 3,920 → 4,567. 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 Fletcher’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily flow of workers through Fletcher
On a workday 3,221 residents head out to work, 230 work right here, and 4,337 people come in from elsewhere.
About 9,500 people are in Fletcher on a workday afternoon, 13% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.32 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.
Getting to work from Fletcher takes about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Fletcher workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,661 commuters (the 11% 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.
How many miles Fletcher commutes
About 17% 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 Fletcher, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Fletcher is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns, #139 of 290 in North Carolina. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.4% of 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 4,116 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). 2.7% of Fletcher households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Fletcher’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 2,947 U.S. towns of 5,900 to 11,300, Fletcher comes 1,196th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 194 | Oak Ridge NC | 7,896 | $155K | 3.6% | 2.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 365 | Ogden NC | 8,249 | $121K | 4.8% | 1.4% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 407 | Stokesdale NC | 6,133 | $121K | 5.6% | 1.9% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,194 | Union Township IN | 6,258 | $72K | 9.2% | 1.7% | 13% | B+ |
| 1,195 | Mansfield Township NJ | 7,996 | $89K | 6.8% | 4.1% | 5% | B+ |
| 1,196 | Fletcher NC | 8,373 | $75K | 7.6% | 3.0% | 7% | B+ |
| 1,197 | King NC | 7,977 | $58K | 7.0% | 1.0% | 7% | B+ |
| 1,198 | Turner ME | 6,127 | $100K | 3.0% | 4.2% | 13% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,947 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Fletcher, the top three, the last and three more from North Carolina.
Next door is work for 36% of Fletcher
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Fletcher workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fletcher | – | B+ | C+ | 24 min | $75,272 |
| Hoopers Creek | under 1% | C− | B | 15 min | $52,315 |
| Mills River | 2% | A | C− | 21 min | $105,398 |
| Asheville | 34% | B− | A | 18 min | $71,102 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Asheville. Darker towns draw more of Fletcher’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 Fletcher: questions
What is the median household income in Fletcher?
$75,272 (±$7,663) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Fletcher?
7.6%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Fletcher?
24 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Fletcher work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Asheville (34%, 10 mi), Hendersonville (5%, 8 mi), Charlotte (3%, 96 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Fletcher walkable?
Fletcher is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 8.3 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Fletcher without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Fletcher, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fletcher
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.