Photo: Jayron32 · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes in Robbins are lower than in 83% of U.S. towns
Poverty touches 22.1% of residents; North Carolina has 13.0%. Jobs and income earn Robbins D−; getting around on foot earns it C. 0% of workers have no commute at all, where North Carolina as a whole has 16%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Robbins and work: the main findings
Stores, warehouses and trucking
57% of the jobs in Robbins are in trade, transport and utilities, against 21% of the jobs its residents hold. The jobs ↓
Few Robbins workers work from home
Only 0% of workers work from home, against 16% across North Carolina. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
A big share show a job far from home
30% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. 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; with 383 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Robbins’ Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Robbins is better than 4% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Robbins’ grade.
Unemployment (0.7%) is left out: Robbins’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Robbins could be anywhere from D− to D.
Jobs in Robbins: what the 348 are
348 jobs are based in Robbins.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Robbins, 2013 → 2023: 297 → 348. 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 Robbins’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 28 minutes in Robbins
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Robbins workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 724 commuters (the 0% 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.
The commute from Robbins, by distance
About 30% 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 and out of Robbins on a workday
On a workday 369 residents head out to work, 14 work right here, and 334 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 (0.91 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.
7% of working residents work in Southern Pines
Where Robbins clocks in
7% of workers
5% 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.
For most of Robbins, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Robbins is more walkable than 31% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.6% 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 724 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). 13.4% of Robbins households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Robbins’ commuters take a bus or train.
Where Robbins sits among U.S. towns of 900 to 1,800
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 66 | Governors Club NC | 1,787 | $236K | 0.0% | 8.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 83 | Biltmore Forest NC | 1,469 | $169K | 2.0% | 2.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 233 | Northlakes NC | 1,716 | $101K | 2.0% | 1.0% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,941 | Baraga MI | 1,746 | $44K | 17.2% | 1.5% | 42% | D− |
| 4,942 | Loving NM | 1,391 | $44K | 20.1% | 16.2% | 9% | D− |
| 4,943 | Robbins NC | 1,305 | $53K | 22.1% | 0.7% | 4% | D− |
| 4,944 | Mooreland OK | 1,122 | $55K | 22.8% | 0.0% | 9% | D− |
| 4,945 | Heppner OR | 1,128 | $50K | 15.8% | 2.8% | 21% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,400 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Robbins, 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 Robbins: questions
What is the median household income in Robbins?
$53,438 (±$3,543) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Robbins?
22.1%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Robbins?
28 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 0% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Robbins work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Southern Pines (7%, 19 mi), Asheboro (5%, 23 mi), Carthage (4%, 12 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Robbins walkable?
Robbins is more walkable than 31% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 6.9 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Robbins without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 13% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Robbins, from the people who make the trip.
More of Robbins
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.