Palmer Fire School · Photo: North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources · Public domainJobs, income and commuting in Lake Lure, NC
For 29% of workers, the job is at home, next to 16% for North Carolina as a whole. Lake Lure grades C for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. About one in seven stay in Lake Lure for work; outside it, Charlotte is the main destination (9%, 79 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Lake Lure: the figures worth knowing
Lake Lure’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Lake Lure is Charlotte, 79 miles away as the crow flies. 9% of working residents (46) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Lake Lure is where the jobs are
Lake Lure has 821 jobs, 1.6 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Lake Lure workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 39 minutes each way, against 25 across North Carolina. Over a year that’s about 299 hours of commuting, 107 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
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; with 503 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Inside Lake Lure’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Lake Lure is better than 26% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Lake Lure’s grade up ($80,357, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 3% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (6.3%) is left out: Lake Lure’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Lake Lure could be anywhere from D to B.
Lake Lure’s commute, mile by mile
About 30% 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.
The workday shuffle in and out of Lake Lure
On a workday 418 residents head out to work, 85 work right here, and 736 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,700 people are in Lake Lure on a workday afternoon, 23% more than live here.
1.6 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 2023, primary jobs.
About 39 minutes each way, longer than most of North Carolina
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 12.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lake Lure workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 394 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.
Where Lake Lure’s workers come from
Where Lake Lure clocks in
9% of workers
5% 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 the 821 jobs in Lake Lure are
821 jobs are based in Lake Lure.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lake Lure, 2013 → 2023: 622 → 821. 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 Lake Lure’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute in Lake Lure is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Lake Lure is more walkable than 40% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Lake Lure 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 555 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). 1.9% of Lake Lure households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Lake Lure’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Lake Lure ranks: 3,590th of 5,877 U.S. towns of 1,000 to 1,900
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 69 | Governors Club NC | 1,787 | $236K | 0.0% | 8.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 88 | Biltmore Forest NC | 1,469 | $169K | 2.0% | 2.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 267 | Northlakes NC | 1,716 | $101K | 2.0% | 1.0% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,588 | Forest Lake Township PA | 1,110 | $69K | 11.7% | 6.3% | 4% | C |
| 3,589 | Pagosa Springs CO | 1,838 | $51K | 18.2% | 0.0% | 49% | C |
| 3,590 | Lake Lure NC | 1,391 | $80K | 11.5% | 6.3% | 17% | C |
| 3,591 | Bluff City TN | 1,836 | $61K | 15.3% | 6.8% | 2% | C |
| 3,592 | Jefferson Township OH | 1,839 | $60K | 13.1% | 2.9% | 4% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 5,877 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Lake Lure, the top three, the last and three more from North Carolina.
Work in the towns next to Lake Lure
The biggest share goes to Chimney Rock Village (2%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Lake Lure workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lake Lure | – | C | C+ | 39 min | $80,357 |
| Chimney Rock Village | 2% | — | — | 12 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Chimney Rock Village: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Lake Lure’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 Lake Lure: questions
What is the median household income in Lake Lure?
$80,357 (±$21,820) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lake Lure?
11.5%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lake Lure?
39 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 Lake Lure work?
17% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Charlotte (9%, 79 mi), Asheville (9%, 22 mi), Hendersonville (5%, 17 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Lake Lure walkable?
Lake Lure is more walkable than 40% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 6.3 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lake Lure without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lake Lure, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lake Lure
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.