Bracebridge Hall · Photo: Marie Sharpe Ham, Debra A. Blake, C. Edward Morris · Public domainHalf Moon has lower unemployment (1.3%) than 92% of U.S. towns
Home is the office for 9% of workers, next to 16% for North Carolina as a whole. Jobs and income earn Half Moon B; getting around on foot earns it C−. Measured by household income, Half Moon is behind 60% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Half Moon stands out on work
Half Moon and Jacksonville trade workers both ways
Jacksonville is the top workplace for Half Moon residents (39%) and also where the most people who work in Half Moon come from (20% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Half Moon is a place people come home to
There are 474 jobs based in Half Moon, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Half Moon has about 5,400 people in it, 27% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
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.
The four measures behind Half Moon’s grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Half Moon is better than 62% of U.S. towns, #100 of 290 in North Carolina. Unemployment holds Half Moon’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 37% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Half Moon could be anywhere from C+ to A−.
39% of working residents work in Jacksonville
Where Half Moon clocks in
3% 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.
Who leaves Half Moon for work, and who comes in
On a workday 2,415 residents head out to work, 36 work right here, and 438 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,400 people are in Half Moon on a workday afternoon, 27% fewer than live here.
0.19 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.
What work there is in Half Moon: 474 jobs
474 jobs are based in Half Moon.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Half Moon, 2013 → 2023: 251 → 474. 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 Half Moon’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Half Moon, about 28 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Half Moon workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,165 commuters (the 9% 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.
The commute from Half Moon, by distance
About 29% 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 Half Moon, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Half Moon is more walkable than 20% of U.S. towns, #242 of 290 in North Carolina. Both inputs place Half Moon near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 3,488 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). 4.0% of Half Moon households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Half Moon’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 3,083 U.S. towns of 5,200 to 10,000, Half Moon comes 1,425th 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 191 | Oak Ridge NC | 7,896 | $155K | 3.6% | 2.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 363 | Ogden NC | 8,249 | $121K | 4.8% | 1.4% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 406 | Stokesdale NC | 6,133 | $121K | 5.6% | 1.9% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,423 | Diamondhead MS | 9,441 | $87K | 7.0% | 4.2% | 8% | B |
| 1,424 | Acton CA | 7,880 | $113K | 13.1% | 3.3% | 5% | B |
| 1,425 | Half Moon NC | 7,378 | $69K | 7.9% | 1.3% | 1% | B |
| 1,426 | Miramar Beach FL | 8,902 | $103K | 4.5% | 5.7% | 30% | B |
| 1,427 | Grand Ledge MI | 7,853 | $69K | 6.2% | 4.6% | 8% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 3,083 | 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 Half Moon, the top three, the last and three more from North Carolina.
39% of Half Moon works in a bordering town
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Half Moon workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Half Moon | – | B | C− | 28 min | $68,946 |
| Jacksonville | 39% | C− | A− | 15 min | $57,697 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Jacksonville. Darker towns draw more of Half Moon’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 Half Moon: questions
What is the median household income in Half Moon?
$68,946 (±$17,396) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Half Moon?
7.9%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Half Moon?
28 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Half Moon work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Jacksonville (39%, 8 mi), Wilmington (3%, 49 mi), Raleigh (3%, 96 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Half Moon walkable?
Half Moon is more walkable than 20% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 5.4 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Half Moon without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Half Moon, from the people who make the trip.
More of Half Moon
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.