Photo: NCDOT · CC BY 2.0Chadbourn has lower household incomes than 92% of U.S. towns
Working from home is the commute for 3% of workers, against 16% across North Carolina. 30.6% of residents live below the poverty line (North Carolina 13.0%). The two grades for Chadbourn are D− for jobs and income and B+ for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Chadbourn apart on work
Chadbourn workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 39 minutes each way, against 25 across North Carolina. Over a year that’s about 299 hours of commuting, 107 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Chadbourn than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Chadbourn fell from 876 in 2013 to 495 in 2023, −43%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
A big share show a job far from home
36% 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 ↓
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 589 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The figures behind Chadbourn’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Chadbourn is better than 4% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Chadbourn’s grade up (ahead of 23% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
Unemployment (0.0%) is left out: Chadbourn’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, Chadbourn could be anywhere from D− to C−.
Commuting from Chadbourn: about 39 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 12.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Chadbourn workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 473 commuters (the 3% 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.
What work there is in Chadbourn: 495 jobs
495 jobs are based in Chadbourn.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Chadbourn, 2013 → 2023: 876 → 495. 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 Chadbourn’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Chadbourn’s workers travel
About 36% 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 commutes out of Chadbourn, and who commutes in
On a workday 561 residents head out to work, 28 work right here, and 467 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.84 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
20% of working residents work in Whiteville
Where Chadbourn clocks in
20% of workers
5% of workers
3% 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.
Most of Chadbourn commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Chadbourn is more walkable than 69% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 2.9% across North Carolina, on an EPA index of 7.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 488 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). 26.2% of Chadbourn households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Chadbourn’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Chadbourn sits among U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,100
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 70 | Governors Club NC | 1,787 | $236K | 0.0% | 8.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 95 | Biltmore Forest NC | 1,469 | $169K | 2.0% | 2.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 296 | Northlakes NC | 1,716 | $101K | 2.0% | 1.0% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 5,353 | Shelburn IN | 1,103 | $46K | 24.7% | 1.1% | 1% | D− |
| 5,354 | Quitman MS | 1,925 | $48K | 27.7% | 1.5% | 25% | D− |
| 5,355 | Chadbourn NC | 1,539 | $46K | 30.6% | 0.0% | 5% | D− |
| 5,356 | Wellington TX | 1,770 | $57K | 22.4% | 0.2% | 40% | D− |
| 5,357 | Victoria VA | 1,744 | $41K | 17.9% | 3.8% | 3% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,794 | 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 Chadbourn, 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 Chadbourn: questions
What is the median household income in Chadbourn?
$45,787 (±$20,993) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Chadbourn?
30.6%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Chadbourn?
39 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Chadbourn work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Whiteville (20%, 7 mi), Wilmington (5%, 54 mi), Raleigh (3%, 105 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Chadbourn walkable?
Chadbourn is more walkable than 69% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.3 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Chadbourn without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 26% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Chadbourn, from the people who make the trip.
More of Chadbourn
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.