Oak Ridge Military Academy Historic District · Photo: Ceh2624 · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Oak Ridge have higher incomes than those in 96% of U.S. towns
Home is the office for 29% of workers, against 16% across North Carolina. The poverty rate is 3.6% (North Carolina 13.0%). Oak Ridge grades A+ for jobs and income and B− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Oak Ridge in brief
A lot of Oak Ridge works from home
29% of Oak Ridge workers work from home, against 16% across North Carolina. Time on the road ↓
39% of Oak Ridge works in Greensboro
1,381 working residents, 39%, have their main job in Greensboro, 11 miles away across the town line. That’s 20 times as many as work in Oak Ridge itself. The commute map ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Oak Ridge
68% of Oak Ridge residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 50% of the jobs based in Oak Ridge pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 98% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
Young people hold many of the jobs here
34% of the jobs based in Oak Ridge are held by workers 29 or younger, against 18% of Oak Ridge’s own working residents. 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.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Oak Ridge
Household income is its strongest input ($155,385, U.S. $80,734); job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 75% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Oak Ridge could be anywhere from A− to A+.
Getting to work from Oak Ridge takes about 21 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Oak Ridge workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,628 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.
39% of working residents work in Greensboro
Where Oak Ridge clocks in
39% 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 work there is in Oak Ridge: 1,407 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Oak Ridge, 2013 → 2023: 1,126 → 1,407. 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 Oak Ridge’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who leaves Oak Ridge for work, and who comes in
On a workday 3,490 residents head out to work, 81 work right here, and 1,326 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,700 people are in Oak Ridge on a workday afternoon, 27% fewer than live here.
0.39 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.
Oak Ridge’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.
In Oak Ridge, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Oak Ridge is more walkable than 53% of U.S. towns, #105 of 290 in North Carolina. Both inputs place Oak Ridge 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 3,717 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% 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 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). 2.2% of Oak Ridge households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Oak Ridge’s commuters take a bus or train.
Oak Ridge next to U.S. towns of 5,500 to 10,700: 193rd of 3,069 on jobs and income
| # | 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 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 191 | East Marlborough Township PA | 7,924 | $156K | 3.1% | 2.6% | 7% | A+ |
| 192 | Delano MN | 7,788 | $110K | 4.0% | 1.9% | 16% | A+ |
| 193 | Oak Ridge NC | 7,896 | $155K | 3.6% | 2.5% | 2% | A+ |
| 194 | Sunbury OH | 8,857 | $109K | 5.2% | 1.4% | 5% | A+ |
| 195 | Perkiomen Township PA | 8,965 | $154K | 4.6% | 3.0% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 368 | Ogden NC | 8,249 | $121K | 4.8% | 1.4% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 408 | Stokesdale NC | 6,133 | $121K | 5.6% | 1.9% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 442 | Wesley Chapel NC | 9,566 | $132K | 4.5% | 3.8% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,069 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Oak Ridge, the top three, the last and three more from North Carolina.
Bordering towns draw 40% of Oak Ridge’s workers
The biggest share goes to Greensboro (39%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Oak Ridge workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oak Ridge | – | A+ | B− | 21 min | $155,385 |
| Stokesdale | 1% | A | C | 26 min | $121,071 |
| Summerfield | under 1% | A | B− | 28 min | $160,275 |
| Greensboro | 39% | C+ | A− | 22 min | $61,515 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Oak Ridge’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 Oak Ridge: questions
What is the median household income in Oak Ridge?
$155,385 (±$23,788) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Oak Ridge?
3.6%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Oak Ridge?
21 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 Oak Ridge work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Greensboro (39%, 11 mi), Winston-Salem (13%, 16 mi), High Point (8%, 13 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Oak Ridge walkable?
Oak Ridge is more walkable than 53% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 6.8 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Oak Ridge without a car?
0% 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 Oak Ridge, from the people who make the trip.
More of Oak Ridge
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.