Raeford Historic District · Photo: Jerrye & Roy Klotz, MD · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Raeford earn less than those in 91% of U.S. towns
8% of workers work from home, where North Carolina as a whole has 16%. Below the poverty line: 20.7% of residents, where North Carolina as a whole has 13.0%. For jobs and income Raeford is better than 25% of U.S. towns (C); for walkability it is more walkable than 77% of U.S. towns (A−).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Raeford in brief
Raeford is where the jobs are
Raeford has 4,260 jobs, 2.7 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 7,400 people are in town, 57% more than the 4,700 who live here. Day and night ↓
The biggest group of Raeford’s workers comes from Fayetteville
527 of the people who work in Raeford live in Fayetteville, 16 miles away, more than from any other town. The commute map ↓
Commutes from Raeford are quick
The average trip to work takes 20 minutes, against 25 across North Carolina. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical North Carolina 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.
How Raeford earns its Jobs & income grade
Unemployment holds Raeford’s grade up (3.8%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($46,494, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on job access by car.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Raeford could be anywhere from D to B−.
Who leaves Raeford for work, and who comes in
On a workday 1,253 residents head out to work, 318 work right here, and 3,942 people come in from elsewhere.
About 7,400 people are in Raeford on a workday afternoon, 57% more than live here.
2.7 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
Where Raeford’s workers come from
Where Raeford clocks in
14% of workers
4% of workers
4% 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.
About 20 minutes to work from Raeford
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Raeford workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,533 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.
What the 4,260 jobs in Raeford are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Raeford, 2013 → 2023: 4,863 → 4,260. 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 Raeford’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute from Raeford, by distance
About 29% 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 Raeford, walking beats the bus
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 6.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 2.9% across North Carolina, on an EPA index of 7.4.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,661 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). 10.6% of Raeford households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Raeford’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 3,300 to 6,300, Raeford ranks 2,923rd of 3,798 on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 85 | Jamestown NC | 3,803 | $105K | 2.5% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 184 | Fairview NC | 3,805 | $99K | 1.8% | 1.8% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 281 | Midland NC | 5,151 | $101K | 4.1% | 1.8% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,921 | South Chicago Heights IL | 3,884 | $59K | 30.5% | 7.8% | 4% | C |
| 2,922 | Cedar Springs MI | 3,789 | $58K | 22.2% | 6.4% | 6% | C |
| 2,923 | Raeford NC | 4,703 | $46K | 20.7% | 3.8% | 20% | C |
| 2,924 | Littleton NH | 6,003 | $57K | 14.3% | 3.5% | 40% | C |
| 2,925 | Fruitridge Pocket CA | 6,095 | $63K | 30.7% | 12.3% | 1% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 3,798 | 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 Raeford, the top three, the last and three more from North Carolina.
Work in the towns next to Raeford
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Raeford workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Raeford | – | C | A− | 20 min | $46,494 |
| Silver City | under 2% | — | — | 19 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Silver City: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Raeford’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 Raeford: questions
What is the median household income in Raeford?
$46,494 (±$6,970) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Raeford?
20.7%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Raeford?
20 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 Raeford work?
20% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Fayetteville (14%, 16 mi), Raleigh (4%, 68 mi), Pinehurst (4%, 20 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Raeford walkable?
Raeford is more walkable than 77% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.4 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Raeford without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Raeford, from the people who make the trip.
More of Raeford
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.