Photo: Leah Rucker · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Hillsborough earn more than those in 75% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Hillsborough B+; getting around on foot earns it B+. Below the poverty line: 8.0% of residents (North Carolina 13.0%). Working from home is the commute for 29% of workers, where North Carolina as a whole has 16%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Hillsborough: the gist
Home offices are common in Hillsborough
29% of Hillsborough workers work from home, against 16% across North Carolina. Time on the road ↓
Hillsborough is where the jobs are
Hillsborough has 7,062 jobs, 1.6 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Hillsborough and Durham trade workers both ways
Durham is the top workplace for Hillsborough residents (26%) and also where the most people who work in Hillsborough come from (12% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Hillsborough draws workers from far and wide
The 7,062 jobs in Hillsborough are filled from a wide area. Hillsborough’s own residents hold 6% and the ten next-biggest home towns 32%; the other 62% 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 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Why Hillsborough gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Hillsborough is better than 73% of U.S. towns, #64 of 290 in North Carolina. Household income is its strongest input ($98,163, U.S. $80,734); unemployment ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (4.1%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment and job access by car.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Hillsborough could be anywhere from C+ to A+.
A commute of about 22 minutes in Hillsborough
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Hillsborough workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,286 commuters (the 29% 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.
A workday in Hillsborough: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 4,171 residents head out to work, 398 work right here, and 6,664 people come in from elsewhere.
About 12,000 people are in Hillsborough on a workday afternoon, 25% more than live here.
1.5 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.
Where Hillsborough’s workers come from
Where Hillsborough clocks in
26% of workers
12% of workers
9% 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 Hillsborough: what the 7,062 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Hillsborough, 2014 → 2024: 5,668 → 7,062. 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 Hillsborough’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Miles to work from Hillsborough
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.
For most of Hillsborough, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Hillsborough is more walkable than 70% of U.S. towns, #60 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 4,640 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 21% 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 2.6 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 73% 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). 5.3% of Hillsborough households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Hillsborough’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 2,800 U.S. towns of 6,800 to 13,200, Hillsborough comes 1,021st on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 189 | Oak Ridge NC | 7,896 | $155K | 3.6% | 2.5% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 289 | Rolesville NC | 12,839 | $150K | 1.1% | 3.7% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 364 | Summerfield NC | 11,327 | $160K | 7.1% | 2.1% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,019 | Conewago Township PA | 9,140 | $97K | 6.3% | 5.3% | 4% | B+ |
| 1,020 | Largo MD | 12,229 | $103K | 7.2% | 6.7% | 1% | B+ |
| 1,021 | Hillsborough NC | 9,778 | $98K | 8.0% | 4.1% | 9% | B+ |
| 1,022 | Willoughby Hills OH | 9,992 | $67K | 5.6% | 3.7% | 3% | B+ |
| 1,023 | Skaneateles NY | 7,016 | $104K | 10.1% | 2.3% | 22% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,800 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 6% | 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 Hillsborough, the top three, the last and three more from North Carolina.
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 Hillsborough: questions
What is the median household income in Hillsborough?
$98,163 (±$25,635) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Hillsborough?
8.0%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Hillsborough?
22 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 29% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Hillsborough work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Durham (26%, 13 mi), Chapel Hill (12%, 11 mi), Raleigh (9%, 31 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Hillsborough walkable?
Hillsborough is more walkable than 70% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.5 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Hillsborough without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Hillsborough, from the people who make the trip.
More of Hillsborough
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.