Photo: ADeveria · Public domainHouseholds in Dudley have lower incomes than those in 95% of U.S. towns
Only 3% work in Dudley itself; outside it, Goldsboro draws the most (22%, 9 miles). 35.3% of residents live below the poverty line, against 13.0% across North Carolina. The two grades for Dudley are D for jobs and income and D for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Dudley stands out on work
Dudley makes and builds things
91% of the jobs based in Dudley are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Dudley residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 33%. The jobs ↓
Dudley is where the jobs are
Dudley has 859 jobs, 2.9 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
The jobs in Dudley pay better than its residents’ jobs
89% of the jobs based in Dudley pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), against 48% of the jobs Dudley residents hold. 99% of the jobs here are held by people who live outside Dudley. 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 300 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Dudley
On income, poverty and job access, Dudley is better than 7% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Dudley’s grade up (ahead of 42% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
Unemployment (0.7%) is left out: Dudley’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Dudley stays D.
Making and building: 91% of jobs based in Dudley
859 jobs are based in Dudley.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Dudley, 2013 → 2023: 634 → 859. 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 Dudley’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Dudley fills up on a workday
On a workday 291 residents head out to work, 9 work right here, and 850 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,900 people are in Dudley on a workday afternoon, 24% more than live here.
2.9 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
Who travels to work in Dudley, and from where
Where Dudley clocks in
8% 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.
Time on the road from Dudley: about 26 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Dudley workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 501 commuters (the 22% 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Dudley
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.
In Dudley, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Dudley is more walkable than 12% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any 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 643 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). 9.1% of Dudley households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Dudley’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Dudley ranks: 4,774th of 5,328 U.S. towns of 1,600 to 3,100
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 55 | Governors Club NC | 1,787 | $236K | 0.0% | 8.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 106 | Avery Creek NC | 2,887 | $113K | 1.4% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 157 | Wrightsville Beach NC | 2,397 | $152K | 4.0% | 0.4% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,772 | Perry Township OH | 2,014 | $54K | 45.2% | 1.6% | 1% | D |
| 4,773 | Nice CA | 2,569 | $52K | 16.0% | 6.0% | 12% | D |
| 4,774 | Dudley NC | 2,305 | $42K | 35.3% | 0.7% | 3% | D |
| 4,775 | Bladenboro NC | 1,656 | $52K | 27.3% | 3.6% | 6% | D |
| 4,776 | Westminster SC | 2,504 | $41K | 21.3% | 3.9% | 3% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,328 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Dudley, 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 Dudley: questions
What is the median household income in Dudley?
$42,050 (±$13,222) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Dudley?
35.3%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Dudley?
26 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 22% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Dudley work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Goldsboro (22%, 9 mi), Raleigh (8%, 52 mi), Mount Olive (6%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Dudley walkable?
Dudley is more walkable than 12% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 5.7 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Dudley without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Dudley, from the people who make the trip.
More of Dudley
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.