With 0.5 jobs for every working resident, most of Conway works elsewhere
Working from home is the commute for 8% of workers, next to 16% for North Carolina as a whole. Conway has 153 jobs; 296 of its residents have a job. Only 5% work in Conway; the top destination outside it is Roanoke Rapids (7%, 23 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Conway: the figures worth knowing
Fewer jobs are based in Conway than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Conway fell from 329 in 2013 to 153 in 2023, −53%. 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 ↓
Conway workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 34 minutes each way, against 25 across North Carolina. Over a year that’s about 261 hours of commuting, 69 more than the state’s typical worker. 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 296 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The kinds of work in Conway
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Conway, 2013 → 2023: 329 → 153. 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 Conway’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 34 minutes to work from Conway
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Conway workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 297 commuters (the 7% 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.
The workday shuffle in and out of Conway
On a workday 280 residents head out to work, 16 work right here, and 137 people come in from elsewhere.
About 560 people are in Conway on a workday afternoon, 20% fewer 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 places Conway commutes to
Where Conway clocks in
Lines 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.
Conway’s commute, mile by mile
About 28% 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 Conway: questions
What is the median household income in Conway?
$36,920 (±$11,155) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Conway?
28.4%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Conway?
34 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Conway work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Roanoke Rapids (7%, 23 mi), Jackson (5%, 11 mi), Severn (5%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Conway without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Conway, from the people who make the trip.
More of Conway
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.