Foscoe’s household incomes are lower than in 89% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Foscoe D−; getting around on foot earns it C−. The poverty rate is 22.3%, against 13.0% across North Carolina. Only 6% work in Foscoe itself; outside it, Boone draws the most (31%, 8 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Foscoe, in brief
31% of Foscoe works in Boone
159 working residents, 31%, have their main job in Boone, 7.5 miles away. That’s 5 times as many as work in Foscoe itself. The commute map ↓
Most Foscoe residents work close to home
61% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home. How far ↓
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 519 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Inside Foscoe’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Foscoe is better than 4% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Foscoe’s grade.
Unemployment (8.3%) is left out: Foscoe’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, Foscoe could be anywhere from D− to C−.
Where Foscoe’s working residents head each day
Where Foscoe clocks in
31% 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.
How far Foscoe goes to work
About 25% 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.
The daily flow of workers through Foscoe
On a workday 486 residents head out to work, 33 work right here, and 359 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,100 people are in Foscoe on a workday afternoon, 10% fewer than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.76 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.
Foscoe makes things: 34% of its jobs are in goods
392 jobs are based in Foscoe.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Foscoe, 2013 → 2023: 300 → 392. 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 Foscoe’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Foscoe, about 23 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Foscoe workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 474 commuters (the 12% 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.
Driving is how Foscoe gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Foscoe is more walkable than 23% of U.S. towns. 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 539 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). 0.2% of Foscoe households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Foscoe’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Foscoe compares with U.S. towns of 900 to 1,700
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 76 | Biltmore Forest NC | 1,469 | $169K | 2.0% | 2.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 285 | Montreat NC | 1,024 | $116K | 0.0% | 9.6% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 324 | Advance NC | 1,408 | $115K | 5.0% | 0.0% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,480 | Richmond Township OH | 1,005 | $56K | 30.0% | 3.2% | <1% | D− |
| 4,481 | Tuscarora Township PA | 1,135 | $52K | 18.2% | 1.0% | 3% | D− |
| 4,482 | Foscoe NC | 1,226 | $49K | 22.3% | 8.3% | 6% | D− |
| 4,483 | Rose Lodge OR | 1,381 | $59K | 23.6% | 0.0% | 3% | D− |
| 4,484 | Omega GA | 1,341 | $42K | 34.1% | 2.6% | 7% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,866 | 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 Foscoe, the top three, the last and three more from North Carolina.
Around Foscoe: the bordering towns
The biggest share goes to Seven Devils (1%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Foscoe workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Foscoe | – | D− | C− | 23 min | $49,243 |
| Seven Devils | 1% | — | — | 27 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Seven Devils: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Foscoe’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 Foscoe: questions
What is the median household income in Foscoe?
$49,243 (±$9,644) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Foscoe?
22.3%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Foscoe?
23 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Foscoe work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Boone (31%, 8 mi), Banner Elk (3%, 5 mi), Charlotte (3%, 84 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Foscoe walkable?
Foscoe is more walkable than 23% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 7.0 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Foscoe without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and <1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Foscoe, from the people who make the trip.
More of Foscoe
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.