Photo: Alamance County NC · CC BY-SA 3.0Unemployment in Graham (6.8%) is higher than in 81% of U.S. towns
Commuters spend 26 minutes getting to work on average; North Carolina averages 25, the U.S. 26. For jobs and income Graham is better than 26% of U.S. towns (C); for walkability it is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns (C+). Measured by household income, Graham is behind 80% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Graham and work: the main findings
Graham trades workers with the towns around it
Graham has about as many jobs (7,200) as working residents (7,652), but they are mostly different people: 7,066 residents leave for work each day while 6,614 people come in. Only 8% of the jobs in Graham are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Graham and Burlington trade workers both ways
Burlington is the top workplace for Graham residents (20%) and also where the most people who work in Graham come from (17% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Graham draws workers from far and wide
The 7,200 jobs in Graham are filled from a wide area. Graham’s own residents hold 8% and the ten next-biggest home towns 34%; the other 58% 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.
How Graham earns its Jobs & income grade
Job access by car holds Graham’s grade up (ahead of 73% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Graham could be anywhere from C− to C+.
A workday in Graham: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 7,066 residents head out to work, 586 work right here, and 6,614 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 (0.94 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.
20% of working residents work in Burlington
Where Graham clocks in
20% of workers
8% of workers
8% 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.
Jobs in Graham: what the 7,200 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Graham, 2013 → 2023: 6,511 → 7,200. 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 Graham’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Time on the road from Graham: about 26 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Graham workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 7,533 commuters (the 10% 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.
Half of Graham commutes less than 21 miles
About 16% 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.
Most trips from Graham start in a car
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.8% 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 8,395 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 6% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.2 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 43% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 3.7% of Graham households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Graham’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Graham is 1,567th among 1,860 U.S. towns of 14,000 to 27,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ada Township MI | 14,769 | $168K | 2.0% | 0.7% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 31 | Weddington NC | 14,517 | $191K | 4.0% | 1.8% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 135 | Harrisburg NC | 20,742 | $148K | 3.7% | 3.0% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 180 | Wendell NC | 19,687 | $96K | 3.2% | 1.3% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,565 | Hayesville OR | 21,246 | $59K | 23.7% | 5.5% | 3% | C |
| 1,566 | Elkton MD | 16,670 | $59K | 20.1% | 6.9% | 16% | C |
| 1,567 | Graham NC | 20,131 | $56K | 16.8% | 6.8% | 8% | C |
| 1,568 | Ashland OR | 20,889 | $68K | 15.2% | 6.2% | 40% | C |
| 1,569 | Beckley WV | 16,373 | $46K | 28.9% | 3.2% | 40% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 1,860 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Graham, the top three, the last and three more from North Carolina.
Next door is work for 20% of Graham
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Graham workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Graham | – | C | C+ | 26 min | $56,239 |
| Burlington | 20% | C | B− | 24 min | $56,880 |
| Haw River | under 2% | B− | C | 33 min | $61,058 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Burlington. Darker towns draw more of Graham’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 Graham: questions
What is the median household income in Graham?
$56,239 (±$1,962) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Graham?
16.8%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Graham?
26 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Graham work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Burlington (20%, 5 mi), Durham (8%, 28 mi), Greensboro (8%, 24 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Graham walkable?
Graham is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 7.9 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Graham without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Graham, from the people who make the trip.
More of Graham
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.