Photo: Upstateherd · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in Sanford have lower incomes than those in 77% of U.S. towns
Sanford grades C for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. The poverty rate is 22.0%, next to 13.0% for North Carolina as a whole. 8% of workers work from home, 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
The commute and the jobs: Sanford in brief
Sanford’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Sanford is Raleigh, 38 miles away as the crow flies. 10% of working residents (1,303) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Sanford draws workers from far and wide
The 18,585 jobs in Sanford are filled from a wide area. Sanford’s own residents hold 20% and the ten next-biggest home towns 13%; the other 67% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
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.
The four measures behind Sanford’s grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Sanford is better than 25% of U.S. towns, #204 of 290 in North Carolina. Job access by car holds Sanford’s grade up (ahead of 50% 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, Sanford could be anywhere from D to C+.
How far it is to work from Sanford
About 17% 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.
10% of working residents work in Raleigh
Where Sanford clocks in
10% 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.
The workday shuffle in and out of Sanford
On a workday 8,892 residents head out to work, 3,683 work right here, and 14,902 people come in from elsewhere.
About 40,000 people are in Sanford on a workday afternoon, 18% 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.
What the 18,585 jobs in Sanford are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sanford, 2013 → 2023: 18,571 → 18,585. 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 Sanford’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Time on the road from Sanford: about 23 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sanford workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 12,543 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.
Getting around Sanford: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Sanford is more walkable than 42% of U.S. towns, #149 of 290 in North Carolina. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.1% 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 13,646 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). 5.7% of Sanford households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Sanford’s commuters take a bus or train.
Sanford places 1,112th of 1,255 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 24,000 to 46,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| 2 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 60 | Matthews NC | 32,769 | $109K | 3.7% | 2.1% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 98 | Morrisville NC | 32,466 | $125K | 3.1% | 3.3% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 142 | Cornelius NC | 35,094 | $114K | 5.4% | 2.4% | 10% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,110 | Bartlesville OK | 38,278 | $59K | 17.2% | 4.4% | 46% | C |
| 1,111 | Horizon City TX | 25,118 | $66K | 22.0% | 9.1% | 8% | C |
| 1,112 | Sanford NC | 34,138 | $58K | 22.0% | 4.4% | 29% | C |
| 1,113 | Bristol TN | 28,107 | $58K | 13.6% | 6.8% | 26% | C |
| 1,114 | San Juan TX | 37,868 | $57K | 22.4% | 7.4% | 5% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 1,255 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 Sanford, 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 Sanford: questions
What is the median household income in Sanford?
$57,586 (±$5,084) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sanford?
22.0%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sanford?
23 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 Sanford work?
29% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Raleigh (10%, 38 mi), Cary (4%, 28 mi), Durham (4%, 37 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Sanford walkable?
Sanford is more walkable than 42% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 7.4 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sanford without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Sanford, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sanford
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.