Photo: Dincher · CC BY-SA 3.0Lillington draws 4,280 commuters a day, with 1.9 jobs for every working resident
The two grades for Lillington are B for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. 4,494 jobs are based in Lillington for 2,324 working residents. Home is the office for 6% of workers (North Carolina 16%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Lillington
Lillington is where the jobs are
Lillington has 4,494 jobs, 1.9 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 7,200 people are in town, 43% more than the 5,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
Lillington’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Lillington is Raleigh, 31 miles away as the crow flies. 14% of working residents (316) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
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.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Lillington
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Lillington is better than 62% of U.S. towns, #99 of 290 in North Carolina. The poverty rate holds Lillington’s grade up (4.9%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 36% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and unemployment.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Lillington could be anywhere from C+ to A−.
Who leaves Lillington for work, and who comes in
On a workday 2,110 residents head out to work and 214 work right here.
About 7,200 people are in Lillington on a workday afternoon, 43% more than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Lillington’s commute, mile by mile
About 19% 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.
Who travels to work in Lillington, and from where
Where Lillington clocks in
14% of workers
6% 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.
The kinds of work in Lillington
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lillington, 2013 → 2023: 3,626 → 4,494. 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 Lillington’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 26 minutes each way, about the NC average
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lillington workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,692 commuters (the 6% 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.
For most of Lillington, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Lillington is more walkable than 38% of U.S. towns, #166 of 290 in North Carolina. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 2.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 2.9% across North Carolina, on an EPA index of 5.6.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,809 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). 2.7% of Lillington households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Lillington’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Lillington ranks: 1,553rd of 3,758 U.S. towns of 3,500 to 6,800
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 87 | Jamestown NC | 3,803 | $105K | 2.5% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 195 | Fairview NC | 3,805 | $99K | 1.8% | 1.8% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 294 | Midland NC | 5,151 | $101K | 4.1% | 1.8% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,551 | Potter Township PA | 3,637 | $75K | 5.1% | 2.9% | 8% | B |
| 1,552 | Seven Lakes NC | 4,535 | $91K | 8.8% | 2.3% | 6% | B |
| 1,553 | Lillington NC | 5,040 | $82K | 4.9% | 3.9% | 9% | B |
| 1,554 | Baden PA | 3,831 | $63K | 8.4% | 3.4% | 5% | B |
| 1,555 | Whitfield FL | 4,261 | $98K | 8.0% | 5.9% | 1% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 3,758 | 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 Lillington, 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 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 Lillington: questions
What is the median household income in Lillington?
$81,760 (±$8,580) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lillington?
4.9%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lillington?
26 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lillington work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Raleigh (14%, 30 mi), Fayetteville (6%, 25 mi), Cary (5%, 26 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Lillington walkable?
Lillington is more walkable than 38% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 5.6 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lillington without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lillington, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lillington
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.