Granville County Courthouse · Photo: JERRYE & ROY KLOTZ MD · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Oxford have lower incomes than those in 94% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Oxford D; getting around on foot earns it B. The poverty rate is 28.3% (North Carolina 13.0%). For 8% of workers, the job is at home; North Carolina has 16%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Oxford at work: what stands out
Oxford draws workers from far and wide
The 5,218 jobs in Oxford are filled from a wide area. Oxford’s own residents hold 10% and the ten next-biggest home towns 19%; the other 71% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Oxford’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Oxford is Durham, 29 miles away as the crow flies. 13% of working residents (475) 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.
Income, poverty and work: Oxford’s grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Oxford is better than 9% of U.S. towns, #266 of 290 in North Carolina. Job access by car holds Oxford’s grade up (ahead of 45% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Oxford could be anywhere from D to C.
13% of working residents work in Durham
Where Oxford clocks in
13% of workers
12% 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.
How far Oxford’s workers travel
About 22% 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.
Oxford fills up on a workday
On a workday 2,983 residents head out to work, 538 work right here, and 4,680 people come in from elsewhere.
About 11,000 people are in Oxford on a workday afternoon, 19% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.48 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.
Goods, not services: 30% of the jobs in Oxford
5,218 jobs are based in Oxford.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Oxford, 2013 → 2023: 6,791 → 5,218. 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 Oxford’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 29 minutes each way for Oxford’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Oxford workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,831 commuters (the 8% 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.
Most trips from Oxford start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Oxford is more walkable than 60% of U.S. towns, #86 of 290 in North Carolina. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.0% 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 3,092 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). 7.9% of Oxford households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Oxford’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 6,300 to 12,100, and where Oxford sits
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Pimmit Hills VA | 6,589 | $173K | 1.6% | 1.3% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Braddock VA | 6,536 | $212K | 0.9% | 1.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 197 | Oak Ridge NC | 7,896 | $155K | 3.6% | 2.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 364 | Summerfield NC | 11,327 | $160K | 7.1% | 2.1% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 372 | Ogden NC | 8,249 | $121K | 4.8% | 1.4% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,717 | Bloomfield NM | 7,335 | $48K | 25.7% | 5.7% | 16% | D |
| 2,718 | Vandalia IL | 7,108 | $45K | 22.2% | 6.0% | 28% | D |
| 2,719 | Oxford NC | 8,985 | $43K | 28.3% | 7.0% | 15% | D |
| 2,720 | Woodward OK | 11,635 | $54K | 17.2% | 7.5% | 46% | D |
| 2,721 | Pearsall TX | 9,170 | $49K | 28.0% | 4.9% | 22% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 2,862 | 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 Oxford, 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 Oxford: questions
What is the median household income in Oxford?
$43,054 (±$8,790) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Oxford?
28.3%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Oxford?
29 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Oxford work?
15% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Durham (13%, 29 mi), Raleigh (12%, 34 mi), Henderson (5%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Oxford walkable?
Oxford is more walkable than 60% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 8.1 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Oxford without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Oxford, from the people who make the trip.
More of Oxford
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.