Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0There are 2.4 jobs in Hendersonville for every working resident, and 13,347 people commute in
14,744 jobs are based in Hendersonville for 6,058 working residents. Hendersonville grades C+ for jobs and income and A− for walkability. Measured by household income, Hendersonville is behind 83% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Hendersonville apart on work
Hendersonville is where the jobs are
Hendersonville has 14,744 jobs, 2.4 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 25,000 people are in town, 55% more than the 16,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
Hendersonville draws workers from far and wide
The 14,744 jobs in Hendersonville are filled from a wide area. Hendersonville’s own residents hold 9% and the ten next-biggest home towns 20%; the other 71% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Commutes from Hendersonville are quick
The average trip to work takes 19 minutes, against 25 across North Carolina. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical North Carolina worker. Time on the road ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
What’s behind Hendersonville’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Hendersonville is better than 40% of U.S. towns, #161 of 290 in North Carolina. Unemployment holds Hendersonville’s grade up (3.2%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($53,449, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Hendersonville could be anywhere from C to B−.
In and out of Hendersonville on a workday
On a workday 4,661 residents head out to work and 1,397 work right here.
About 25,000 people are in Hendersonville on a workday afternoon, 55% more than live here.
2.4 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Who travels to work in Hendersonville, and from where
Where Hendersonville 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.
About 19 minutes each way for Hendersonville’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Hendersonville workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 6,069 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.
What Hendersonville’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Hendersonville, 2014 → 2024: 12,936 → 14,744. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Hendersonville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Half of Hendersonville commutes less than 11 miles
About 21% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Hendersonville is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Hendersonville is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns, #46 of 290 in North Carolina. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.7% 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 6,648 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). 8.0% of Hendersonville households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Hendersonville’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Hendersonville is 1,518th of 2,109 U.S. towns of 11,000 to 21,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 44 | Weddington NC | 14,517 | $191K | 4.0% | 1.8% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 154 | Harrisburg NC | 20,742 | $148K | 3.7% | 3.0% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 207 | Wendell NC | 19,687 | $96K | 3.2% | 1.3% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,516 | Lockport NY | 20,248 | $62K | 15.2% | 4.8% | 16% | C+ |
| 1,517 | Maili HI | 11,570 | $112K | 11.3% | 9.6% | 2% | C+ |
| 1,518 | Hendersonville NC | 15,867 | $53K | 14.6% | 3.2% | 23% | C+ |
| 1,519 | Snyder TX | 11,166 | $58K | 12.4% | 1.3% | 33% | C+ |
| 1,520 | El Dorado KS | 12,696 | $59K | 16.6% | 3.3% | 34% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,109 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 28% | 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 Hendersonville, the top three, the last and three more from North Carolina.
Hendersonville and its neighbors
The biggest share goes to East Flat Rock (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Hendersonville workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hendersonville | – | C+ | A− | 19 min | $53,449 |
| Valley Hill | under 1% | A− | C− | 21 min | $86,599 |
| Barker Heights | under 1% | D | C+ | 16 min | $29,277 |
| Balfour | under 1% | B+ | A− | 18 min | $70,116 |
| East Flat Rock | 2% | C | B+ | 18 min | $59,583 |
| Fruitland | under 1% | C+ | D | 24 min | $48,025 |
| Laurel Park | under 1% | B+ | C | 23 min | $90,000 |
| Flat Rock | under 1% | B | C− | 25 min | $95,098 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Hendersonville’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 2024, 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 Hendersonville: questions
What is the median household income in Hendersonville?
$53,449 (±$2,835) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Hendersonville?
14.6%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Hendersonville?
19 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 Hendersonville work?
23% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Asheville (14%, 18 mi), Charlotte (5%, 92 mi), Mills River (3%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Hendersonville walkable?
Hendersonville is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 9.9 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Hendersonville without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Hendersonville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Hendersonville
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.