Work means Wilmington for about half of Silver Lake’s working residents
The two grades for Silver Lake are B− for jobs and income and B for walkability. Only 2% work in Silver Lake itself; outside it, Wilmington draws the most (45%, 5 miles). For 9% of workers, the job is at 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: Silver Lake in brief
Silver Lake is a place people come home to
There are 586 jobs based in Silver Lake, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Silver Lake has about 4,400 people in it, 33% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Silver Lake
57% of Silver Lake residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 36% of the jobs based in Silver Lake pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 98% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
Most Silver Lake residents work close to home
61% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home. How far ↓
Many jobs in Silver Lake pay little
26% of the jobs based in Silver Lake pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. The jobs ↓
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.
Inside Silver Lake’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Silver Lake is better than 50% of U.S. towns, #126 of 290 in North Carolina. Job access by car holds Silver Lake’s grade up (ahead of 63% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (5.3%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Silver Lake could be anywhere from C− to A.
The daily commute in and out of Silver Lake
On a workday 2,668 residents head out to work, 52 work right here, and 534 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,400 people are in Silver Lake on a workday afternoon, 33% fewer than live here.
0.22 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.
The 586 jobs based in Silver Lake
586 jobs are based in Silver Lake.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Silver Lake, 2013 → 2023: 442 → 586. 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 Silver Lake’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Miles to work from Silver Lake
About 24% 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.
The places Silver Lake commutes to
Where Silver Lake clocks in
45% of workers
3% of workers
3% 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.
Getting to work from Silver Lake takes about 24 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 Silver Lake workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,086 commuters (the 9% 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.
Silver Lake is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Silver Lake is more walkable than 59% of U.S. towns, #90 of 290 in North Carolina. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.2% 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 3,392 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 38% 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). 0.5% of Silver Lake households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Silver Lake’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Silver Lake is 1,837th of 3,283 U.S. towns of 4,600 to 8,900
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Norwood NJ | 5,817 | $178K | 2.8% | 0.9% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 179 | Oak Ridge NC | 7,896 | $155K | 3.6% | 2.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 292 | Midland NC | 5,151 | $101K | 4.1% | 1.8% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 349 | Ogden NC | 8,249 | $121K | 4.8% | 1.4% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,835 | Hilton NY | 5,873 | $87K | 12.6% | 6.2% | 10% | B− |
| 1,836 | Groton NY | 5,397 | $69K | 9.1% | 2.9% | 9% | B− |
| 1,837 | Silver Lake NC | 6,563 | $77K | 9.7% | 5.3% | 2% | B− |
| 1,838 | Columbiana AL | 5,106 | $81K | 9.8% | 5.0% | 10% | B− |
| 1,839 | Hiawatha IA | 7,432 | $66K | 13.7% | 4.0% | 10% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,283 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Silver Lake, the top three, the last and three more from North Carolina.
Next door is work for 48% of Silver Lake
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Silver Lake workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Silver Lake | – | B− | B | 24 min | $76,756 |
| Wilmington | 45% | C+ | A | 19 min | $66,738 |
| Myrtle Grove | 3% | A− | C+ | 20 min | $113,463 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Wilmington. Darker towns draw more of Silver Lake’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 Silver Lake: questions
What is the median household income in Silver Lake?
$76,756 (±$15,693) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Silver Lake?
9.7%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Silver Lake?
24 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Silver Lake work?
2% work in town.
Is Silver Lake walkable?
Silver Lake is more walkable than 59% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 9.3 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Silver Lake without a car?
1% 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 Silver Lake, from the people who make the trip.
More of Silver Lake
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.