Drive Times

Access to a suitable workforce is a significant location factor for a business and the length of the drive to and from work is an equally important consideration for employees, especially since gasoline prices have escalated so much recently. Currently over one-quarter of Charlotte-Mecklenburg's workers commute in and out daily from another county, a daily ebb and flow of over 150,000 commuters.

Sixteen sites in Mecklenburg County were chosen for this study. The resulting Labor Shed boundries give a general picture of how far a typical driver can go within 15 and 30 minutes on an average day after leaving each site during the afternoon rush hour. Variations in the weather, accidents, or road construction projects will cause these times to vary, as will driving habits of individuals. These travel time boundaries do not represent every traveler's experience on every day but are simply a rough approximation of relative travel times.

The following maps show the Labor Shed boundaries and the associated table shows the population, households and the number of residents who were employed in a range of occupational categories within the 15 and 30-minute Labor Sheds. Read the Labor Shed Report.

Central Charlotte, Trade & Tryon	Ballantyne, Johnson Rd. at I-485 South
I-77 at I-85	I-485 at I-77 South interchange
W.T. Harris Blvd., Exit 18 on I-77	Billy Graham Pkwy, Tyvola Rd. at Billy Graham
Davidson, Exit 30 on I-77	Whitehall Business Park, I-485 at Arrowood Rd.
University Research Park, Harris Blvd at I-85	Westinghouse Blvd. at Steele Creek Rd.
Mint Hill, Albemarle Rd. at I-485 South	I-485 at I-85 interchange
Crown Point, Sardis Rd. at Independance Blvd.	NC 160 at Oakdale Rd.
SouthPark, Sharon Rd. at Fairview Rd.

The statistics show that, while there are substantial differences among the various locations, there is a large pool of potentials employees to draw on from each of the locations. The maps and the accompanying tables provide a useful measure of the relative employees access to each location.

For more information on how this study was conducted please contact the Research Department.

Commuting in Charlotte

The 2000 Census numbers show that 146,211 people who live outside Mecklenburg work in the county. That is a 43% increase from the 1990 census.

Almost 1 of 3 Mecklenburg jobs are held by noncounty residents. Commuting times have increased more than 20% in the past decade for most area counties. The average Mecklenburg worker drives 26 minutes one way to work.

Commuting Patterns to and from Mecklenburg County Map

Review these links for maps on page 1 and data on commuting page 2.

Total In-Commuters

Commuting in Mecklenburg County

Commute Time to Work