Unemployment in Northchase (19.2%) is among the highest in the country
Measured by household income, Northchase is behind 75% of U.S. towns. For jobs and income Northchase is better than 16% of U.S. towns (C−); for walkability it is more walkable than 49% of U.S. towns (B−). Only 4% work in Northchase; the top destination outside it is Wilmington (45%, 7 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Northchase, in brief
Nearly half of Northchase works in Wilmington
774 working residents, 45%, have their main job in Wilmington, 6.8 miles away. That’s 11 times as many as work in Northchase itself. The commute map ↓
Most Northchase residents work close to home
66% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about two in three. How far ↓
Northchase has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Northchase went from 1,574 in 2013 to 2,271 in 2023, +44%. The jobs ↓
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.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Northchase
Job access by car holds Northchase’s grade up (ahead of 65% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Northchase could be anywhere from D to B.
Where Northchase’s working residents head each day
Where Northchase clocks in
45% of workers
4% of workers
3% 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.
How many miles Northchase commutes
About 21% 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.
Goods, not services: 28% of the jobs in Northchase
2,271 jobs are based in Northchase.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Northchase, 2013 → 2023: 1,574 → 2,271. 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 Northchase’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A workday in Northchase: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 1,656 residents head out to work, 66 work right here, and 2,205 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 (1.32 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.
About 22 minutes to work from Northchase
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Northchase workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,896 commuters (the 19% 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.
In Northchase, most people drive to work
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any 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 2,351 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 18.0% of Northchase households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Northchase’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Northchase ranks: 3,051st of 3,494 U.S. towns of 4,100 to 8,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 188 | Oak Ridge NC | 7,896 | $155K | 3.6% | 2.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 296 | Midland NC | 5,151 | $101K | 4.1% | 1.8% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 395 | Stokesdale NC | 6,133 | $121K | 5.6% | 1.9% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,049 | Norway ME | 5,349 | $54K | 20.9% | 4.5% | 12% | C− |
| 3,050 | Lowville NY | 4,869 | $69K | 16.2% | 6.4% | 35% | C− |
| 3,051 | Northchase NC | 5,896 | $59K | 22.3% | 19.2% | 4% | C− |
| 3,052 | Austin IN | 4,254 | $32K | 27.0% | 5.3% | 5% | C− |
| 3,053 | Mims FL | 7,610 | $59K | 11.4% | 7.3% | 4% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,494 | Medina TX | 4,226 | $22K | 53.8% | 10.1% | 4% | 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 Northchase, the top three, the last and three more from North Carolina.
Work in the towns next to Northchase
The biggest share goes to Murraysville (2%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Northchase workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northchase | – | C− | B− | 22 min | $59,375 |
| Murraysville | 2% | B | C+ | 23 min | $81,167 |
| Blue Clay Farms | 1% | — | — | — | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Blue Clay Farms: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Northchase’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 Northchase: questions
What is the median household income in Northchase?
$59,375 (±$13,146) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Northchase?
22.3%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Northchase?
22 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 19% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Northchase work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Wilmington (45%, 7 mi), Kings Grant (4%, 3 mi), Raleigh (3%, 114 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Northchase walkable?
Northchase is more walkable than 49% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 12.0 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Northchase without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 18% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Northchase, from the people who make the trip.
More of Northchase
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.