Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0Unemployment in Claremont (1.2%) is lower than in 93% of U.S. towns
Jobs & income B+: better than 72% of U.S. towns on income, poverty, unemployment and job access.
Walkability D−: more walkable than 4% of U.S. towns.
Household incomes here are lower than in 63% of U.S. towns. Working residents average 22 minutes each way (North Carolina 25, U.S. 26). About one in ten work in Claremont; the top destination outside it is Hickory (18%, 10 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in Claremont, in brief
Claremont fills up on a workday
Claremont has 5,253 jobs, 6.4 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 6,200 people are in town, 3 times the 1,800 who live here. Day and night ↓
Claremont makes and builds things
76% of the jobs based in Claremont are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Claremont residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 31%. The jobs ↓
Claremont draws workers from far and wide
The 5,253 jobs in Claremont are filled from a wide area. The ten biggest home towns of its workers supply 27%; the other 72% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
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 827 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Claremont’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Claremont is better than 72% of U.S. towns. Unemployment holds Claremont’s grade up (1.2%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($66,667, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on the poverty rate and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Claremont could be anywhere from B− to A.
Claremont’s population more than triples on a workday
On a workday 760 residents head out to work, 67 work right here, and 5,186 people come in from elsewhere.
About 6,200 people are in Claremont on a workday afternoon, 247% more than live here.
6.4 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.
Claremont makes things: 76% of its jobs are in goods
5,253 jobs are based in Claremont. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Claremont’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Claremont, 2013 → 2023: 3,421 → 5,253. 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.
Where Claremont’s workers come from
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Claremont clocks in
18% of workers
9% of workers
8% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
About 22 minutes each way, quicker than most of North Carolina
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Claremont workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 946 commuters (the 5% 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.
Half of Claremont commutes less than 11 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
About 15% 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 Claremont start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Claremont is more walkable than 4% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Claremont 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 993 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). 2.3% of Claremont households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Claremont’s commuters take a bus or train.
Claremont is 999th of 5,343 U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,400 on jobs and income
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Claremont, the top three, the last and three more from North Carolina.
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 64 | Governors Club NC | 1,787 | $236K | 0.0% | 8.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 94 | Biltmore Forest NC | 1,469 | $169K | 2.0% | 2.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 153 | Wrightsville Beach NC | 2,397 | $152K | 4.0% | 0.4% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 997 | South Bend Township MN | 1,550 | $88K | 5.3% | 3.6% | 5% | B+ |
| 998 | Youngstown NY | 1,822 | $81K | 5.3% | 4.6% | 3% | B+ |
| 999 | Claremont NC | 1,790 | $67K | 7.0% | 1.2% | 8% | B+ |
| 1,000 | Walton Township MI | 2,201 | $89K | 6.4% | 5.4% | 2% | B+ |
| 1,001 | Warsaw Township MN | 1,317 | $91K | 4.8% | 2.1% | <1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,343 | 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.
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 Claremont: questions
What is the median household income in Claremont?
$66,667 (±$28,721) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Claremont?
7.0%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Claremont?
22 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Claremont work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Hickory (18%, 10 mi), Conover (9%, 3 mi), Newton (8%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Claremont walkable?
Claremont is more walkable than 4% of U.S. towns (Walkability D−): an EPA walkability index of 4.3 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Claremont without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Claremont, from the people who make the trip.
More of Claremont
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.