Photo: User:Dincher · CC BY-SA 3.0Clarkton draws 1,230 commuters a day, with 4.5 jobs for every working resident
Only 4% work in Clarkton; the top destination outside it is Elizabethtown (13%, 10 miles). 1,240 jobs are based in Clarkton, against 277 working residents. The average commute takes 21 minutes each way (North Carolina 25, U.S. 26).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Clarkton, in brief
Clarkton fills up on a workday
Clarkton has 1,240 jobs, 4.5 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 1,600 people are in town, more than double the 600 who live here. Day and night ↓
The biggest group of Clarkton’s workers comes from Greensboro
75 of the people who work in Clarkton live in Greensboro, 129 miles away, more than from any other town. The commute map ↓
Clarkton makes and builds things
90% of the jobs based in Clarkton are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Clarkton residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 26%. 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 277 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Clarkton on a workday afternoon
On a workday 267 residents head out to work and 10 work right here.
About 1,600 people are in Clarkton on a workday afternoon, 159% more 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.
The daily trip into Clarkton
Where Clarkton clocks in
13% of workers
6% 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.
A place that makes things: 90% of Clarkton’s jobs are in goods
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Clarkton, 2013 → 2023: 354 → 1,240. 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 Clarkton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Clarkton: about 21 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Clarkton workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 148 commuters (the 18% 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 far Clarkton’s workers travel
About 33% 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 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 Clarkton: questions
What is the median household income in Clarkton?
$27,292 (±$25,493) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Clarkton?
50.1%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Clarkton?
21 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 18% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Clarkton work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Elizabethtown (13%, 10 mi), Whiteville (6%, 11 mi), Lumberton (4%, 23 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Clarkton without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Clarkton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Clarkton
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.