Miller Homestead · Photo: rossograph · CC BY-SA 4.0Jobs and the daily commute in Lansing
The average commute takes 36 minutes each way (North Carolina 25, U.S. 26). For 5% of workers, the job is at home, where North Carolina as a whole has 16%. Hardly any work in Lansing; the top destination outside it is Jefferson (19%, 6 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The workday shuffle in and out of Lansing
On a workday 83 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 60 people come in from elsewhere.
About 110 people are in Lansing on a workday afternoon, 18% fewer than live here.
0.72 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.
Where Lansing’s working residents head each day
Where Lansing clocks in
19% of workers
13% of workers
7% 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.
Goods, not services: 58% of the jobs in Lansing
60 jobs are based in Lansing.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lansing, 2013 → 2023: 35 → 60. 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 Lansing’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Time on the road from Lansing: about 36 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lansing workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 79 commuters (the 5% 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Lansing
About 24% 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.
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 Lansing: questions
What is the median household income in Lansing?
$48,750 (±$10,387) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lansing?
6.1%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lansing?
36 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lansing work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Jefferson (19%, 6 mi), West Jefferson (13%, 8 mi), Boone (7%, 22 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Lansing 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 Lansing, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lansing
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.