With 0.3 jobs for every working resident, most of Sea Breeze works elsewhere
8% of workers have no commute at all, against 16% across North Carolina. Employers in Sea Breeze report 316 jobs, against 937 working residents. Jobs and income earn Sea Breeze B; getting around on foot earns it B.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Sea Breeze and work: the main findings
Sea Breeze and Wilmington trade workers both ways
Wilmington is the top workplace for Sea Breeze residents (37%) and also where the most people who work in Sea Breeze come from (16% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
The jobs in Sea Breeze pay better than its residents’ jobs
72% of the jobs based in Sea Breeze pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), against 57% of the jobs Sea Breeze residents hold. 96% of the jobs here are held by people who live outside Sea Breeze. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 937 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Sea Breeze
On income, poverty and job access, Sea Breeze is better than 56% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Sea Breeze’s grade up (6.5%, U.S. 12.5%); household income pulls it down ($69,942, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on job access by car.
Unemployment (1.6%) is left out: Sea Breeze’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Sea Breeze could be anywhere from C to A−.
37% of working residents work in Wilmington
Where Sea Breeze clocks in
37% of workers
6% 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.
A place that makes things: 29% of Sea Breeze’s jobs are in goods
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sea Breeze, 2014 → 2024: 58 → 316. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Sea Breeze’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who commutes out of Sea Breeze, and who commutes in
On a workday 924 residents head out to work, 13 work right here, and 303 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,200 people are in Sea Breeze on a workday afternoon, 34% 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 2024, primary jobs.
How long Sea Breeze spends getting to work: about 25 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sea Breeze workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 750 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.
How far it is to work from Sea Breeze
About 26% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
In Sea Breeze, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Sea Breeze is more walkable than 64% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 6.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 2.9% across North Carolina, on an EPA index of 6.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 816 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 0.0% of Sea Breeze households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Sea Breeze’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,500, Sea Breeze ranks 1,853rd of 5,656 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 67 | Governors Club NC | 1,787 | $236K | 0.0% | 8.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 97 | Biltmore Forest NC | 1,469 | $169K | 2.0% | 2.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 159 | Wrightsville Beach NC | 2,397 | $152K | 4.0% | 0.4% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,851 | Darlington Township PA | 1,777 | $64K | 7.5% | 8.9% | 6% | B |
| 1,852 | Killington VT | 1,387 | $81K | 5.3% | 5.0% | 33% | B |
| 1,853 | Sea Breeze NC | 1,849 | $70K | 6.5% | 1.6% | 1% | B |
| 1,854 | Coaling AL | 2,003 | $81K | 3.7% | 8.5% | 1% | B |
| 1,855 | South Macon Township IL | 1,401 | $78K | 6.1% | 1.7% | 9% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 5,656 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 7% | 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 Sea Breeze, the top three, the last and three more from North Carolina.
Work in the towns next to Sea Breeze
The biggest share goes to Myrtle Grove (4%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Sea Breeze workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sea Breeze | – | B | B | 25 min | $69,942 |
| Myrtle Grove | 4% | A− | C+ | 20 min | $113,463 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Sea Breeze’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 2024, 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 Sea Breeze: questions
What is the median household income in Sea Breeze?
$69,942 (±$21,722) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sea Breeze?
6.5%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sea Breeze?
25 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 Sea Breeze work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Wilmington (37%, 10 mi), Carolina Beach (6%, 2 mi), Myrtle Grove (4%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Sea Breeze walkable?
Sea Breeze is more walkable than 64% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 6.2 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sea Breeze without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Sea Breeze, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sea Breeze
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.