Photo: Harrison Keely · CC BY 4.0Households in Sylva have lower incomes than those in 93% of U.S. towns
Working from home is the commute for 3% of workers, where North Carolina as a whole has 16%. 19.4% of residents are in poverty; North Carolina has 13.0%. Jobs and income earn Sylva D; getting around on foot earns it B.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Sylva, in brief
Sylva fills up on a workday
Sylva has 4,855 jobs, 4.8 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 6,500 people are in town, more than double the 2,700 who live here. Day and night ↓
Few Sylva workers work from home
Only 3% of workers work from home, against 16% across North Carolina. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
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.
Where Sylva’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Sylva is better than 8% of U.S. towns, #269 of 290 in North Carolina. Job access by car holds Sylva’s grade up (ahead of 29% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($44,086, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Sylva could be anywhere from D− to C+.
Who leaves Sylva for work, and who comes in
On a workday 841 residents head out to work, 179 work right here, and 4,676 people come in from elsewhere.
About 6,500 people are in Sylva on a workday afternoon, 143% more than live here.
4.8 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
A commute of about 24 minutes in Sylva
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sylva workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,157 commuters (the 3% 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.
Where Sylva’s workforce comes from
Where Sylva clocks in
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.
Inside Sylva’s 4,855 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sylva, 2013 → 2023: 3,998 → 4,855. 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 Sylva’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Half of Sylva commutes less than 9 miles
About 19% 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.
In Sylva, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Sylva is more walkable than 60% of U.S. towns, #84 of 290 in North Carolina. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.3% 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 1,191 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). 8.6% of Sylva households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Sylva’s commuters take a bus or train.
Sylva and other U.S. towns of 1,900 to 3,600
| # | 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% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 104 | Avery Creek NC | 2,887 | $113K | 1.4% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 155 | Wrightsville Beach NC | 2,397 | $152K | 4.0% | 0.4% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 391 | Swepsonville NC | 2,632 | $101K | 4.1% | 2.2% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,350 | Buckskin Township OH | 2,046 | $47K | 16.7% | 7.3% | 1% | D |
| 4,351 | Nicholson MS | 3,146 | $50K | 25.4% | 12.2% | 2% | D |
| 4,352 | Sylva NC | 2,691 | $44K | 19.4% | 7.3% | 18% | D |
| 4,353 | Planada CA | 3,506 | $43K | 21.4% | 8.1% | 4% | D |
| 4,354 | Harrisburg AR | 2,217 | $48K | 26.1% | 8.2% | 28% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,797 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 12% | 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 Sylva, the top three, the last and three more from North Carolina.
Sylva and its neighbors
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Sylva workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sylva | – | D | B | 24 min | $44,086 |
| Dillsboro | under 2% | — | — | 17 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Dillsboro: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Sylva’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 Sylva: questions
What is the median household income in Sylva?
$44,086 (±$6,090) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sylva?
19.4%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sylva?
24 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sylva work?
18% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Cullowhee (7%, 5 mi), Asheville (6%, 40 mi), Cherokee (5%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Sylva walkable?
Sylva is more walkable than 60% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 9.1 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sylva without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Sylva, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sylva
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.