Kitty Hawk Life-Saving Station · Photo: Jasonspsyche · CC BY-SA 3.0Kitty Hawk has higher unemployment (8.9%) than 92% of U.S. towns
Measured by household income, Kitty Hawk is ahead of 72% of U.S. towns. Jobs and income earn Kitty Hawk C+; getting around on foot earns it B−. About one in five stay in Kitty Hawk for work; outside it, Kill Devil Hills is the main destination (12%, 4 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Kitty Hawk
Jobs & income in Kitty Hawk: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Kitty Hawk is better than 44% of U.S. towns, #146 of 290 in North Carolina. The poverty rate holds Kitty Hawk’s grade up (4.7%, U.S. 12.5%); unemployment pulls it down. It also does well on household income.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Kitty Hawk could be anywhere from C to B+.
The workday shuffle in and out of Kitty Hawk
On a workday 1,391 residents head out to work, 313 work right here, and 2,109 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,400 people are in Kitty Hawk on a workday afternoon, 20% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.42 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.
The towns that employ Kitty Hawk’s residents
Where Kitty Hawk clocks in
12% of workers
10% of workers
6% 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.
What Kitty Hawk’s employers do
2,422 jobs are based in Kitty Hawk.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Kitty Hawk, 2013 → 2023: 2,405 → 2,422. 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 Kitty Hawk’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Kitty Hawk: about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Kitty Hawk workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,594 commuters (the 18% 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.
Where in the region Kitty Hawk works
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.
Few in Kitty Hawk walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Kitty Hawk is more walkable than 48% of U.S. towns, #126 of 290 in North Carolina. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.4% 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 1,944 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). 1.1% of Kitty Hawk households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Kitty Hawk’s commuters take a bus or train.
Kitty Hawk next to U.S. towns of 2,600 to 5,000: 2,491st of 4,318 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 87 | Jamestown NC | 3,803 | $105K | 2.5% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 126 | Avery Creek NC | 2,887 | $113K | 1.4% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 192 | Fairview NC | 3,805 | $99K | 1.8% | 1.8% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,489 | Valentine NE | 2,635 | $57K | 9.1% | 0.0% | 46% | C+ |
| 2,490 | David City NE | 3,068 | $66K | 15.1% | 0.1% | 40% | C+ |
| 2,491 | Kitty Hawk NC | 3,670 | $94K | 4.7% | 8.9% | 18% | C+ |
| 2,492 | Summit Township PA | 4,308 | $59K | 7.6% | 5.0% | 5% | C+ |
| 2,493 | Chester VT | 2,955 | $62K | 7.0% | 2.8% | 14% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,318 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Kitty Hawk, the top three, the last and three more from North Carolina.
15% of Kitty Hawk works in a town next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Kitty Hawk workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kitty Hawk | – | C+ | B− | 24 min | $94,450 |
| Southern Shores | 3% | B− | B+ | 25 min | $131,429 |
| Kill Devil Hills | 12% | C | B+ | 21 min | $89,773 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Kill Devil Hills. Darker towns draw more of Kitty Hawk’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 Kitty Hawk: questions
What is the median household income in Kitty Hawk?
$94,450 (±$16,986) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Kitty Hawk?
4.7%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Kitty Hawk?
24 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 18% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Kitty Hawk work?
18% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Kill Devil Hills (12%, 4 mi), Nags Head (10%, 10 mi), Duck (6%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Kitty Hawk walkable?
Kitty Hawk is more walkable than 48% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 9.1 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Kitty Hawk 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 Kitty Hawk, from the people who make the trip.
More of Kitty Hawk
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.