Photo: Sugarmountainresort · CC BY-SA 4.0A job hub: Sugar Mountain has 5.5 jobs per working resident, and 626 people come in to work
Sugar Mountain has 630 jobs, and 114 of its residents work somewhere. Only 4% work in Sugar Mountain itself; outside it, Boone draws the most (10%, 13 miles). Working from home is the commute for 26% of workers, 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
In and out of Sugar Mountain on a workday
On a workday 110 residents head out to work and 4 work right here.
About 900 people are in Sugar Mountain on a workday afternoon, 135% more 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.
Where the people who work in Sugar Mountain live
Where Sugar Mountain clocks in
10% 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.
What Sugar Mountain’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sugar Mountain, 2013 → 2023: 566 → 630. 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 Sugar Mountain’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 18 minutes from Sugar Mountain
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sugar Mountain workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 121 commuters (the 26% 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 distance from Sugar Mountain to work
About 37% 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.
Sugar Mountain and the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Seven Devils (3%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Sugar Mountain workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sugar Mountain | – | — | — | 18 min | $96,094 |
| Grandfather Village | under 3% | — | — | — | — |
| Seven Devils | 3% | — | — | 27 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Grandfather Village and Seven Devils: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Sugar Mountain’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 Sugar Mountain: questions
What is the median household income in Sugar Mountain?
$96,094 (±$16,863) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sugar Mountain?
6.3%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sugar Mountain?
18 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 26% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sugar Mountain work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Boone (10%, 13 mi), Charlotte (4%, 86 mi), Banner Elk (4%, 2 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Sugar Mountain 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 Sugar Mountain, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sugar Mountain
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.