Households in Cordova earn less than those in 73% of U.S. towns
46.7% of residents are in poverty, against 13.0% across North Carolina. The two grades for Cordova are D for jobs and income and D− for walkability. 3% of workers work from home, next to 16% for North Carolina as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Cordova stands out on work
Cordova and Rockingham trade workers both ways
Rockingham is the top workplace for Cordova residents (17%) and also where the most people who work in Cordova come from (15% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Cordova makes and builds things
60% of the jobs based in Cordova are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Cordova residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 30%. The jobs ↓
A big share show a job far from home
30% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
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 666 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The figures behind Cordova’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Cordova is better than 9% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Cordova’s grade up ($60,952, U.S. $80,734); the poverty rate pulls it down.
Unemployment (27.7%) is left out: Cordova’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Cordova could be anywhere from D− to C+.
17% of working residents work in Rockingham
Where Cordova clocks in
17% of workers
4% 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.
60% of the jobs in Cordova make or build things
452 jobs are based in Cordova.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Cordova, 2013 → 2023: 117 → 452. 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 Cordova’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Half of Cordova commutes less than 22 miles
About 30% 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.
How a workday changes Cordova
On a workday 641 residents head out to work, 25 work right here, and 427 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,200 people are in Cordova on a workday afternoon, 16% fewer than live here.
0.68 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.
Time on the road from Cordova: about 19 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Cordova workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 563 commuters (the 3% 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.
In Cordova, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Cordova is more walkable than 2% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Cordova 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 578 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). 0.0% of Cordova households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Cordova’s commuters take a bus or train.
Cordova places 4,972nd of 5,877 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 1,000 to 1,900
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 69 | Governors Club NC | 1,787 | $236K | 0.0% | 8.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 88 | Biltmore Forest NC | 1,469 | $169K | 2.0% | 2.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 267 | Northlakes NC | 1,716 | $101K | 2.0% | 1.0% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,970 | Maxwell CA | 1,245 | $68K | 20.5% | 10.2% | 5% | D |
| 4,971 | Weeki Wachee Gardens FL | 1,068 | $57K | 46.0% | 31.3% | 1% | D |
| 4,972 | Cordova NC | 1,372 | $61K | 46.7% | 27.7% | 4% | D |
| 4,973 | Sargent TX | 1,422 | $60K | 18.6% | 4.7% | 1% | D |
| 4,974 | Gila Bend AZ | 1,816 | $52K | 12.2% | 0.0% | 22% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,877 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Cordova, the top three, the last and three more from North Carolina.
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 Cordova: questions
What is the median household income in Cordova?
$60,952 (±$43,423) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Cordova?
46.7%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Cordova?
19 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Cordova work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Rockingham (17%, 3 mi), Hamlet (6%, 6 mi), Charlotte (4%, 61 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Cordova walkable?
Cordova is more walkable than 2% of U.S. towns (Walkability D−): an EPA walkability index of 3.8 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Cordova without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Cordova, from the people who make the trip.
More of Cordova
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.