Hawfields Presbyterian Church · Photo: Indy beetle · CC0Household incomes in Mebane top those of 60% of U.S. towns
7.2% of residents are in poverty, where North Carolina as a whole has 13.0%. Jobs and income earn Mebane B+; getting around on foot earns it C+. About one in ten work in Mebane; the top destination outside it is Durham (13%, 22 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Mebane apart
Mebane has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Mebane went from 5,766 in 2013 to 10,201 in 2023, +77%. The jobs ↓
Mebane draws workers from far and wide
The 10,201 jobs in Mebane are filled from a wide area. Mebane’s own residents hold 9% and the ten next-biggest home towns 30%; the other 61% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Mebane’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Mebane is Durham, 22 miles away as the crow flies. 13% of working residents (1,022) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Mebane makes and builds things
36% of the jobs based in Mebane are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Mebane residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 15%. The jobs ↓
Mebane workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 30 minutes each way, against 25 across North Carolina. Over a year that’s about 230 hours of commuting, 38 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Where Mebane’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Mebane is better than 68% of U.S. towns, #79 of 290 in North Carolina. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Mebane’s grade. It also does well on household income and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Mebane could be anywhere from B− to A.
Goods, not services: 36% of the jobs in Mebane
10,201 jobs are based in Mebane.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Mebane, 2013 → 2023: 5,766 → 10,201. 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 Mebane’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where Mebane goes to work
Where Mebane clocks in
13% of workers
10% of workers
10% 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Mebane
About 17% 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 trip to work from Mebane: about 30 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Mebane workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 8,181 commuters (the 20% 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.
Who commutes out of Mebane, and who commutes in
On a workday 7,242 residents head out to work, 883 work right here, and 9,318 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.26 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.
Driving is how Mebane gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Mebane is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns, #142 of 290 in North Carolina. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.7% 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 10,188 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 9% 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 1.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 61% 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). 2.2% of Mebane households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Mebane’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 15,000 to 30,000, Mebane ranks 904th of 1,847 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Wolf Trap VA | 15,858 | $250K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 133 | Harrisburg NC | 20,742 | $148K | 3.7% | 3.0% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 174 | Wendell NC | 19,687 | $96K | 3.2% | 1.3% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 421 | Knightdale NC | 23,144 | $103K | 5.3% | 3.4% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 902 | Hollins VA | 17,097 | $77K | 8.8% | 3.4% | 10% | B+ |
| 903 | Fairburn GA | 17,133 | $92K | 17.5% | 3.2% | 5% | B+ |
| 904 | Mebane NC | 21,952 | $83K | 7.2% | 3.9% | 11% | B+ |
| 905 | Watauga TX | 22,981 | $91K | 11.3% | 5.1% | 2% | B+ |
| 906 | Ocean Springs MS | 18,993 | $80K | 5.5% | 4.2% | 23% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,847 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Mebane, the top three, the last and three more from North Carolina.
Mebane and its neighbors
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Mebane’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 Mebane: questions
What is the median household income in Mebane?
$83,174 (±$10,813) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Mebane?
7.2%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Mebane?
30 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 20% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Mebane work?
11% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Durham (13%, 22 mi), Chapel Hill (10%, 17 mi), Burlington (10%, 11 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Mebane walkable?
Mebane is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 7.9 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Mebane without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Mebane, from the people who make the trip.
More of Mebane
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.