Zebulon H. Baird House · Photo: AshevilleRoyal · CC BY-SA 4.0For about half of its working residents, Woodfin is a commute to Asheville
Commuters spend 23 minutes getting to work on average; the North Carolina average is 25, the U.S. 26. For jobs and income Woodfin is better than 56% of U.S. towns (B); for walkability it is more walkable than 48% of U.S. towns (B−). Only 6% stay in Woodfin for work; outside it, Asheville is the main destination (46%, 6 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Woodfin in brief
Woodfin trades workers with the towns around it
Woodfin has about as many jobs (3,491) as working residents (3,786), but they are mostly different people: 3,559 residents leave for work each day while 3,264 people come in. Only 7% of the jobs in Woodfin are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Most Woodfin residents work close to home
60% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home. How far ↓
Woodfin has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Woodfin went from 2,552 in 2014 to 3,491 in 2024, +37%. 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
What’s behind Woodfin’s Jobs & income grade
Job access by car holds Woodfin’s grade up (ahead of 72% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (14.1%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on unemployment.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Woodfin could be anywhere from C to A−.
In and out of Woodfin on a workday
On a workday 3,559 residents head out to work, 227 work right here, and 3,264 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 (0.92 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Half of Woodfin commutes less than 7 miles
About 21% 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.
Making and building: 30% of jobs based in Woodfin
3,491 jobs are based in Woodfin.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Woodfin, 2014 → 2024: 2,552 → 3,491. 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 Woodfin’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Out of Woodfin to work: where people go
Where Woodfin clocks in
5% 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.
About 23 minutes to work from Woodfin
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Woodfin workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,162 commuters (the 19% 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.
Few in Woodfin walk, bike or ride to work
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.4% 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 3,909 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 34% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 1% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 60% 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). 2.3% of Woodfin households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Woodfin’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Woodfin is 1,537th among 2,956 U.S. towns of 5,800 to 11,100
| # | 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 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 191 | Oak Ridge NC | 7,896 | $155K | 3.6% | 2.5% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 362 | Ogden NC | 8,249 | $121K | 4.8% | 1.4% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 403 | Stokesdale NC | 6,133 | $121K | 5.6% | 1.9% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,535 | Derry Township PA | 7,244 | $69K | 6.6% | 2.4% | 13% | B |
| 1,536 | Scottdale GA | 10,542 | $86K | 14.4% | 5.9% | 1% | B |
| 1,537 | Woodfin NC | 8,229 | $71K | 14.1% | 3.0% | 6% | B |
| 1,538 | Plainfield Township PA | 6,315 | $87K | 9.4% | 5.6% | 4% | B |
| 1,539 | Meraux LA | 7,918 | $76K | 21.7% | 2.9% | 4% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 2,956 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 6% | 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 Woodfin, the top three, the last and three more from North Carolina.
Work next door: 49% of Woodfin’s workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Woodfin workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Woodfin | – | B | B− | 23 min | $71,384 |
| Asheville | 46% | B− | A | 18 min | $71,102 |
| Weaverville | 3% | A− | B | 19 min | $88,221 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Asheville. Darker towns draw more of Woodfin’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 Woodfin: questions
What is the median household income in Woodfin?
$71,384 (±$11,820) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Woodfin?
14.1%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Woodfin?
23 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 19% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Woodfin work?
6% work in town.
Is Woodfin walkable?
Woodfin is more walkable than 48% 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 Woodfin without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 1% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Woodfin, from the people who make the trip.
More of Woodfin
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.