Photo: User:Dincher · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Bladenboro have lower incomes than those in 85% of U.S. towns
Only 6% stay in Bladenboro for work; outside it, Lumberton is the main destination (12%, 14 miles). The poverty rate is 27.3%, against 13.0% across North Carolina. For jobs and income Bladenboro is better than 7% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 51% of U.S. towns (B−).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Bladenboro: the gist
A big share show a job far from home
35% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Bladenboro
53% of Bladenboro residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 31% of the jobs based in Bladenboro pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 94% leave town for their job. 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; with 674 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where Bladenboro’s Jobs & income grade comes from
Job access by car holds Bladenboro’s grade up (ahead of 28% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
Unemployment (3.6%) is left out: Bladenboro’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, Bladenboro could be anywhere from D− to C−.
The commute from Bladenboro, by distance
About 35% 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.
What Bladenboro’s employers do
427 jobs are based in Bladenboro.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bladenboro, 2013 → 2023: 418 → 427. 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 Bladenboro’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who leaves Bladenboro for work, and who comes in
On a workday 633 residents head out to work, 41 work right here, and 386 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,400 people are in Bladenboro on a workday afternoon, 15% fewer than live here.
0.63 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.
The places Bladenboro commutes to
Where Bladenboro clocks in
6% 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.
Time on the road from Bladenboro: about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bladenboro workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 693 commuters (the 10% 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.
Getting around Bladenboro: mostly by car
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 3.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 2.9% across North Carolina, on an EPA index of 5.9.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 773 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). 5.3% of Bladenboro households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Bladenboro’s commuters take a bus or train.
Bladenboro places 4,717th of 5,381 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,200
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 66 | Governors Club NC | 1,787 | $236K | 0.0% | 8.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 90 | Biltmore Forest NC | 1,469 | $169K | 2.0% | 2.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 283 | Northlakes NC | 1,716 | $101K | 2.0% | 1.0% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,715 | Perry Township OH | 2,014 | $54K | 45.2% | 1.6% | 1% | D |
| 4,716 | Snow Hill NC | 1,588 | $32K | 40.2% | 7.4% | 14% | D |
| 4,717 | Bladenboro NC | 1,656 | $52K | 27.3% | 3.6% | 6% | D |
| 4,718 | Jefferson TX | 2,056 | $42K | 21.6% | 8.4% | 17% | D |
| 4,719 | Whiskey Run Township IN | 1,963 | $59K | 22.2% | 3.7% | 5% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,381 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Bladenboro, 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 Bladenboro: questions
What is the median household income in Bladenboro?
$52,337 (±$16,849) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bladenboro?
27.3%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bladenboro?
22 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bladenboro work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lumberton (12%, 14 mi), Fayetteville (6%, 39 mi), Elizabethtown (5%, 12 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Bladenboro walkable?
Bladenboro is more walkable than 51% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 5.9 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Bladenboro without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Bladenboro, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bladenboro
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.