Cliffside Public School · Photo: Upstateherd · CC BY-SA 3.0How Cliffside works: jobs, income and commuting
The trip to work takes 11 minutes on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. At home: 26% of workers have no commute at all (North Carolina 16%). Hardly any work in Cliffside; the top destination outside it is Forest City (12%, 8 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Cliffside: the figures worth knowing
Commutes from Cliffside are quick
The average trip to work takes 11 minutes, against 25 across North Carolina. That’s about 107 hours a year less on the road than the typical North Carolina worker. Time on the road ↓
Home offices are common in Cliffside
26% of Cliffside 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 212 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
From Cliffside, about 11 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 3.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Cliffside workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 148 commuters (the 26% 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.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 211 residents head out to work, 1 work right here, and 194 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 (0.92 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.
The places Cliffside commutes to
Where Cliffside clocks in
12% of workers
10% 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.
Goods jobs make up 66% of work in Cliffside
195 jobs are based in Cliffside.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Cliffside, 2013 → 2023: 172 → 195. 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 Cliffside’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Short hops and long hauls from Cliffside
About 27% 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 Cliffside: questions
What is the median household income in Cliffside?
$51,438 (±$13,549) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Cliffside?
7.1%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Cliffside?
11 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 26% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Cliffside work?
<1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Forest City (12%, 8 mi), Charlotte (10%, 53 mi), Shelby (6%, 13 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Cliffside without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 16% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Cliffside, from the people who make the trip.
More of Cliffside
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.