Bethel has 0.2 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Jobs & income C−: better than 18% of U.S. towns on income, poverty and job access.
Walkability C−: more walkable than 17% of U.S. towns.
Household incomes here are lower than in 84% of U.S. towns. Working residents average 25 minutes each way (North Carolina 25, U.S. 26). Only 2% work in Bethel; the top destination outside it is Greenville (30%, 15 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Bethel
Bethel and Greenville trade workers both ways
Greenville is the top workplace for Bethel residents (30%) and also where the most people who work in Bethel come from (18% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Bethel is a place people come home to
There are 115 jobs based in Bethel, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Bethel has about 1,000 people in it, 28% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Few Bethel workers work from home
Only 0% 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; with 507 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Bethel’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Bethel is better than 18% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Bethel’s grade up (ahead of 42% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($52,961, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (9.9%) is left out: Bethel’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Bethel could be anywhere from D to C+.
30% of working residents work in Greenville
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Bethel clocks in
30% of workers
5% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
Bethel quiets down on a workday
On a workday 499 residents head out to work, 8 work right here, and 107 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,000 people are in Bethel on a workday afternoon, 28% fewer than live here.
0.23 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.
About 25 minutes each way, about the NC average
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bethel workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 653 commuters (the <1% 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.
Bethel makes things: 52% of its jobs are in goods
115 jobs are based in Bethel. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Bethel’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bethel, 2013 → 2023: 131 → 115. 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.
Half of Bethel commutes less than 17 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
About 28% 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.
Most trips from Bethel start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Bethel is more walkable than 17% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Bethel near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 655 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). 13.6% of Bethel households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Bethel’s commuters take a bus or train.
Bethel is 4,210th of 5,877 U.S. towns of 1,000 to 1,900 on jobs and income
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Bethel, the top three, the last and three more from North Carolina.
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 69 | Governors Club NC | 1,787 | $236K | 0.0% | 8.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 88 | Biltmore Forest NC | 1,469 | $169K | 2.0% | 2.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 267 | Northlakes NC | 1,716 | $101K | 2.0% | 1.0% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,208 | Mapleton IA | 1,135 | $55K | 8.4% | 2.1% | 19% | C− |
| 4,209 | White Pigeon MI | 1,824 | $51K | 26.0% | 5.6% | 6% | C− |
| 4,210 | Bethel NC | 1,422 | $53K | 16.8% | 9.9% | 2% | C− |
| 4,211 | Gregory SD | 1,250 | $51K | 7.3% | 2.9% | 29% | C− |
| 4,212 | Spencer TN | 1,636 | $47K | 8.8% | 0.5% | 14% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,877 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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.
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 Bethel: questions
What is the median household income in Bethel?
$52,961 (±$5,835) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bethel?
16.8%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bethel?
25 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. <1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bethel work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Greenville (30%, 15 mi), Tarboro (5%, 12 mi), Raleigh (5%, 71 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Bethel walkable?
Bethel is more walkable than 17% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 5.2 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Bethel without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 14% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Bethel, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bethel
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.