Work & commute · Wrightsville Beach

Work & commute in Wrightsville Beach, NC

Most working residents leave Wrightsville Beach for work: only 7% work in town. The top destinations are Wilmington (47%), Raleigh (3%) and Charlotte (2%). Half commute less than 7 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

62 of 918 working residents

Typical commute

7 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

18 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

29%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 856 Wrightsville Beach residents head out of town to work, 62 work right here, and 1,486 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Wrightsville Beach.

856live here, work elsewhere

62live and work here

1,486work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Wrightsville Beach goes to work

Wilmington5 mi away

47%433

Wrightsville Beach (in town)right here

7%62

Raleigh121.6 mi away

3%29

Charlotte185.5 mi away

2%21

Murraysville6 mi away

2%20

Kings Grant5.1 mi away

2%16

Fayetteville89.8 mi away

2%14

Porters Neck5.8 mi away

1%12

Cary123 mi away

1%10

Durham136.9 mi away

1%10

Everywhere elseother towns and states

32%291

Lines run between town centers; a thicker line means more commuters. The top 10 towns each way.

How far

How far Wrightsville Beach commutes

Straight-line distance from home to work, for every working resident. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.

65%

27%

65%Under 10 mi

5%10–24 mi

3%25–50 mi

27%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Wrightsville Beach is a job hub

1.69jobs per working resident

A job hub

1.7 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.

The jobs

What the jobs in Wrightsville Beach are

1,548 jobs are based in Wrightsville Beach. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Wrightsville Beach’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Wrightsville Beach

1,548 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)5%

Trade, transport & utilities12%

Services (health, schools, offices…)84%

$1,250 a month or less21%

$1,251–$3,333 a month34%

Over $3,333 a month45%

Jobs Wrightsville Beach residents hold

918 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)11%

Trade, transport & utilities18%

Services (health, schools, offices…)71%

$1,250 a month or less14%

$1,251–$3,333 a month24%

Over $3,333 a month62%

−6%

Jobs based in Wrightsville Beach, 2013 → 2023: 1,642 → 1,548. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.

About these numbers

How to read this page

Every worker, home to workThe Census links each worker’s home block to their main job’s block, for jobs covered by unemployment insurance. That’s most jobs, but not the self-employed.

Where the employer saysA job counts where the employer reports it. Some big employers report one address for many sites, which can make a few commutes look longer than they are.

Two surveysFlows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2023. Commute time and working from home: the Census American Community Survey.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs; American Community Survey 5-year estimates.