Photo: Jon Platek · CC BY-SA 3.0Albemarle’s household incomes are lower than in 91% of U.S. towns
24.9% of residents live below the poverty line, next to 13.0% for North Carolina as a whole. The two grades for Albemarle are D for jobs and income and B− for walkability. 8% of workers have no commute at all, 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
Work in Albemarle: the figures worth knowing
Albemarle’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Albemarle is Charlotte, 38 miles away as the crow flies. 16% of working residents (1,201) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Albemarle draws workers from far and wide
The 12,488 jobs in Albemarle are filled from a wide area. Albemarle’s own residents hold 14% and the ten next-biggest home towns 16%; the other 70% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Albemarle is where the jobs are
Albemarle has 12,488 jobs, 1.7 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Many jobs in Albemarle pay little
26% of the jobs based in Albemarle pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. The jobs ↓
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.
Jobs & income in Albemarle: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Albemarle is better than 10% of U.S. towns, #262 of 290 in North Carolina. Job access by car holds Albemarle’s grade up (ahead of 33% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Albemarle could be anywhere from D to C.
Half of Albemarle commutes less than 26 miles
About 17% 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.
Who travels to work in Albemarle, and from where
Where Albemarle clocks in
16% of workers
5% 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.
Albemarle fills up on a workday
On a workday 5,689 residents head out to work, 1,808 work right here, and 10,680 people come in from elsewhere.
About 23,000 people are in Albemarle on a workday afternoon, 28% more than live here.
1.7 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.
What work there is in Albemarle: 12,488 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Albemarle, 2013 → 2023: 10,432 → 12,488. 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 Albemarle’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Albemarle spends getting to work: about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Albemarle workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 6,348 commuters (the 8% 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 Albemarle walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Albemarle is more walkable than 50% of U.S. towns, #119 of 290 in North Carolina. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.1% 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 6,912 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). 9.6% of Albemarle households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Albemarle’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 12,000 to 24,000, and where Albemarle sits
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Trophy Club TX | 13,695 | $201K | 2.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 40 | Weddington NC | 14,517 | $191K | 4.0% | 1.8% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 143 | Harrisburg NC | 20,742 | $148K | 3.7% | 3.0% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 193 | Wendell NC | 19,687 | $96K | 3.2% | 1.3% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,021 | Ruston LA | 22,397 | $31K | 39.8% | 3.4% | 42% | D |
| 2,022 | Coldwater MI | 14,216 | $51K | 21.3% | 8.3% | 35% | D |
| 2,023 | Albemarle NC | 17,769 | $47K | 24.9% | 5.6% | 24% | D |
| 2,024 | Coalinga CA | 17,281 | $75K | 21.7% | 11.4% | 36% | D |
| 2,025 | New Castle PA | 21,175 | $42K | 28.0% | 12.5% | 23% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 2,103 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Albemarle, the top three, the last and three more from North Carolina.
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 Albemarle: questions
What is the median household income in Albemarle?
$46,881 (±$7,519) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Albemarle?
24.9%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Albemarle?
24 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Albemarle work?
24% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Charlotte (16%, 38 mi), Concord (5%, 25 mi), New London (4%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Albemarle walkable?
Albemarle is more walkable than 50% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 8.1 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Albemarle without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Albemarle, from the people who make the trip.
More of Albemarle
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.