Puppy Creek Plantation · Photo: Jerrye & Roy Klotz, MD · CC BY-SA 3.0With 0.1 jobs for every working resident, most of Rockfish works elsewhere
The trip to work takes 33 minutes on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. Rockfish has 135 jobs, against 1,030 working residents. For jobs and income Rockfish is better than 40% of U.S. towns (C+); for walkability it is more walkable than 10% of U.S. towns (D).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Rockfish at work: what stands out
Rockfish is a place people come home to
There are 135 jobs based in Rockfish, about one for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Rockfish has about 2,700 people in it, 25% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Rockfish and Fayetteville trade workers both ways
Fayetteville is the top workplace for Rockfish residents (31%) and also where the most people who work in Rockfish come from (16% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Rockfish workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 33 minutes each way, against 25 across North Carolina. Over a year that’s about 253 hours of commuting, 61 more than the state’s typical 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.
Where Rockfish’s Jobs & income grade comes from
Unemployment holds Rockfish’s grade up (3.5%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down (15.2%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Rockfish could be anywhere from C− to B+.
Rockfish on a workday afternoon
On a workday 1,017 residents head out to work, 13 work right here, and 122 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,700 people are in Rockfish on a workday afternoon, 25% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
31% of working residents work in Fayetteville
Where Rockfish clocks in
31% 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 33 minutes each way for Rockfish’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Rockfish workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,420 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.
Goods jobs make up 31% of work in Rockfish
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Rockfish, 2013 → 2023: 147 → 135. 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 Rockfish’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Half of Rockfish commutes less than 15 miles
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.
For most of Rockfish, work means a drive
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 1,746 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). 1.2% of Rockfish households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Rockfish’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 2,500 to 4,800, Rockfish ranks 2,647th of 4,355 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 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 90 | Jamestown NC | 3,803 | $105K | 2.5% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 130 | Avery Creek NC | 2,887 | $113K | 1.4% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 196 | Fairview NC | 3,805 | $99K | 1.8% | 1.8% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,645 | Strasburg CO | 3,455 | $118K | 13.6% | 9.1% | 6% | C+ |
| 2,646 | Lexington Township MI | 3,452 | $58K | 10.8% | 0.9% | 8% | C+ |
| 2,647 | Rockfish NC | 3,574 | $64K | 15.2% | 3.5% | 1% | C+ |
| 2,648 | Carrollton OH | 3,052 | $56K | 14.9% | 2.2% | 22% | C+ |
| 2,649 | Locust Township IL | 3,144 | $71K | 8.0% | 5.8% | 1% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,355 | 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 Rockfish, the top three, the last and three more from North Carolina.
31% of Rockfish works in a bordering town
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Rockfish workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rockfish | – | C+ | D | 33 min | $64,476 |
| Fayetteville | 31% | C− | A− | 19 min | $58,407 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Fayetteville. Darker towns draw more of Rockfish’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 Rockfish: questions
What is the median household income in Rockfish?
$64,476 (±$7,748) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Rockfish?
15.2%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Rockfish?
33 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 Rockfish work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Fayetteville (31%, 8 mi), Raeford (6%, 9 mi), Raleigh (4%, 63 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Rockfish walkable?
Rockfish is more walkable than 10% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 5.4 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Rockfish without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Rockfish, from the people who make the trip.
More of Rockfish
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.