Sunbury High School · Photo: Nyttend · Public domainJobs and earnings in Sunbury, and the trip to work
A typical one-way commute lasts 18 minutes, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. Hardly any stay in Sunbury for work; outside it, Elizabeth City is the main destination (10%, 23 miles). Home is the office for 9% of workers, next to 16% for North Carolina as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Who leaves Sunbury for work, and who comes in
On a workday 94 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 116 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.23 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.
Where Sunbury’s working residents head each day
Where Sunbury clocks in
10% of workers
10% of workers
7% 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 work there is in Sunbury: 116 jobs
116 jobs are based in Sunbury.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sunbury, 2013 → 2023: 59 → 116. 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 Sunbury’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 18 minutes each way for Sunbury’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sunbury workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 78 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.
How far it is to work from Sunbury
About 29% 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.
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 Sunbury: questions
What is the median household income in Sunbury?
$62,902 (±$33,519) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sunbury?
18.3%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sunbury?
18 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 Sunbury work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Elizabeth City (10%, 23 mi), Chesapeake (10%, 24 mi), Suffolk (7%, 17 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Sunbury without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Sunbury, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sunbury
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.