Photo: Carol M. Highsmith · Public domainCamden has 0.5 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
25% of workers work from home; North Carolina has 16%. There are 142 jobs in Camden for 264 working residents. Camden grades B+ for jobs and income and D for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Camden
Camden and Elizabeth City trade workers both ways
Elizabeth City is the top workplace for Camden residents (17%) and also where the most people who work in Camden come from (12% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Camden workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 34 minutes each way, against 25 across North Carolina. Over a year that’s about 261 hours of commuting, 69 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
A lot of Camden works from home
25% of Camden workers work from home, against 16% across North Carolina. 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 264 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The four measures behind Camden’s grade
On income, poverty and job access, Camden is better than 70% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Camden’s grade up (1.1%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 18% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
Unemployment (9.7%) is left out: Camden’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, Camden could be anywhere from B− to A−.
17% of working residents work in Elizabeth City
Where Camden clocks in
17% of workers
13% of workers
8% 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.
About 34 minutes to work from Camden
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Camden workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 419 commuters (the 25% 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.
How a workday changes Camden
On a workday 260 residents head out to work, 4 work right here, and 138 people come in from elsewhere.
About 990 people are in Camden on a workday afternoon, 11% fewer than live here.
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 Camden’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Camden, 2013 → 2023: 225 → 142. 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 Camden’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Half of Camden commutes less than 26 miles
About 26% 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.
For most of Camden, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Camden is more walkable than 12% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any 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 556 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). 0.3% of Camden households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Camden’s commuters take a bus or train.
Camden is 620th of 3,771 U.S. towns of 800 to 1,500 on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 55 | Biltmore Forest NC | 1,469 | $169K | 2.0% | 2.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 206 | Montreat NC | 1,024 | $116K | 0.0% | 9.6% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 235 | Advance NC | 1,408 | $115K | 5.0% | 0.0% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 618 | Winfield Township NJ | 1,450 | $64K | 8.5% | 8.4% | 2% | B+ |
| 619 | Palestine IN | 1,085 | $92K | 4.5% | 5.3% | 0% | B+ |
| 620 | Camden NC | 1,115 | $94K | 1.1% | 9.7% | 2% | B+ |
| 621 | Green Township IN | 1,028 | $97K | 1.5% | 0.0% | 1% | B+ |
| 622 | Rehoboth Beach DE | 1,309 | $138K | 8.7% | 6.7% | 22% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,771 | 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.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Camden, 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 Camden: questions
What is the median household income in Camden?
$94,412 (±$28,858) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Camden?
1.1%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Camden?
34 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 25% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Camden work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Elizabeth City (17%, 4 mi), Chesapeake (13%, 26 mi), Virginia Beach (8%, 32 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Camden walkable?
Camden is more walkable than 12% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 5.8 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Camden without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and <1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Camden, from the people who make the trip.
More of Camden
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.