Photo: AlexiusHoratius · CC BY-SA 3.0Concord has higher unemployment (5.5%) than 68% of U.S. towns
The trip to work takes 27 minutes on average (North Carolina 25, U.S. 26). Jobs and income earn Concord B; getting around on foot earns it B. About one in five work in Concord itself; outside it, Charlotte draws the most (38%, 17 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Concord and work: the main findings
Much of Concord works one town over
46% of working residents work in a town that borders Concord: Charlotte (38%), Kannapolis (4%) and Harrisburg (2%). Next door ↓
Concord trades workers with the towns around it
Concord has about as many jobs (56,027) as working residents (47,917), but they are mostly different people: 38,885 residents leave for work each day while 46,995 people come in. Only 16% of the jobs in Concord are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
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.
Why Concord gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Concord is better than 62% of U.S. towns, #101 of 290 in North Carolina. Job access by car holds Concord’s grade up (ahead of 83% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down. It also does well on household income and the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Concord could be anywhere from B− to B+.
The daily commute in and out of Concord
On a workday 38,885 residents head out to work, 9,032 work right here, and 46,995 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 (1.17 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.
Where Concord’s working residents head each day
Where Concord clocks in
38% of workers
4% of workers
2% 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.
What work there is in Concord: 56,027 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Concord, 2013 → 2023: 43,393 → 56,027. 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 Concord’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Concord, about 27 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Concord workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 44,952 commuters (the 17% 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.
Where in the region Concord works
About 16% 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.
Most trips from Concord start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Concord is more walkable than 59% of U.S. towns, #89 of 290 in North Carolina. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.5% of 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 54,429 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 28% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 9% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 2.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 68% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 4.5% of Concord households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Concord’s commuters take a bus or train.
These are town averages; neighborhoods differ.
Concord next to U.S. towns of 80,000 to 155,000: 183rd of 368 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | South Jordan UT | 87,614 | $134K | 3.7% | 2.4% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | Carmel IN | 105,634 | $142K | 3.9% | 2.7% | 23% | A+ |
| 3 | Clay Township IN | 104,932 | $142K | 3.9% | 2.7% | 23% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 10 | Apex NC | 80,419 | $144K | 2.2% | 3.8% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 181 | Cheektowaga NY | 88,160 | $69K | 10.9% | 3.7% | 16% | B |
| 182 | Nampa ID | 120,384 | $74K | 11.5% | 3.1% | 29% | B |
| 183 | Concord NC | 114,598 | $87K | 9.6% | 5.5% | 19% | B |
| 184 | Brandon FL | 119,767 | $80K | 11.4% | 4.6% | 11% | B |
| 185 | The Villages FL | 83,498 | $78K | 4.7% | 5.3% | 12% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 257 | Asheville NC | 93,523 | $71K | 14.3% | 5.1% | 52% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 264 | Wilmington NC | 126,809 | $67K | 16.0% | 4.3% | 49% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 368 | Lawton OK | 90,503 | $54K | 21.1% | 8.1% | 55% | 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 Concord, the top three, the last and three more from North Carolina.
46% of Concord works in a bordering town
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Concord workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Concord | – | B | B | 27 min | $86,921 |
| Kannapolis | 4% | B | B+ | 26 min | $73,836 |
| Harrisburg | 2% | A+ | A− | 30 min | $148,254 |
| Huntersville | 2% | A | B+ | 27 min | $120,516 |
| Charlotte | 38% | B | A | 25 min | $82,068 |
| Mount Pleasant | under 2% | B+ | B− | 26 min | $90,795 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Charlotte. Darker towns draw more of Concord’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Concord: questions
What is the median household income in Concord?
$86,921 (±$4,284) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Concord?
9.6%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Concord?
27 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 17% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Concord work?
19% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Charlotte (38%, 17 mi), Kannapolis (4%, 6 mi), Huntersville (2%, 13 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Concord walkable?
Concord is more walkable than 59% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 8.7 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Concord without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 9% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Concord, from the people who make the trip.
More of Concord
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.