Most of Elroy commutes out: there are 0.1 jobs for every working resident
6% of workers have no commute at all, where North Carolina as a whole has 16%. There are 161 jobs in Elroy, against 1,450 working residents. Jobs and income earn Elroy B−; getting around on foot earns it D.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Elroy, in a few figures
Elroy is a place people come home to
There are 161 jobs based in Elroy, about one for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Elroy has about 2,000 people in it, 40% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
29% of Elroy works in Goldsboro
415 working residents, 29%, have their main job in Goldsboro, 4.3 miles away across the town line. That’s far more as work in Elroy itself. The commute map ↓
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 Elroy gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Elroy is better than 48% of U.S. towns, #134 of 290 in North Carolina. Unemployment holds Elroy’s grade up (2.1%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down (14.0%, U.S. 12.5%).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Elroy could be anywhere from C− to A−.
Elroy by day and by night
On a workday 1,446 residents head out to work, 4 work right here, and 157 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,000 people are in Elroy on a workday afternoon, 40% 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.
29% of working residents work in Goldsboro
Where Elroy clocks in
6% 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.
Jobs in Elroy: what the 161 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Elroy, 2013 → 2023: 116 → 161. 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 Elroy’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The trip to work from Elroy: about 23 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Elroy workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,200 commuters (the 6% 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 commute from Elroy, by distance
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 Elroy, most people drive to work
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,283 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). 1.1% of Elroy households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Elroy’s commuters take a bus or train.
Elroy is 2,285th of 4,453 U.S. towns of 2,300 to 4,400 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 81 | Jamestown NC | 3,803 | $105K | 2.5% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 119 | Avery Creek NC | 2,887 | $113K | 1.4% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 169 | Wrightsville Beach NC | 2,397 | $152K | 4.0% | 0.4% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,283 | Park Center CO | 2,588 | $72K | 11.5% | 1.3% | 1% | B− |
| 2,284 | Clarcona FL | 3,850 | $42K | 14.8% | 2.5% | <1% | B− |
| 2,285 | Elroy NC | 3,251 | $63K | 14.0% | 2.1% | <1% | B− |
| 2,286 | Sullivan IL | 4,310 | $63K | 10.3% | 2.4% | 30% | B− |
| 2,287 | Greentown IN | 2,366 | $61K | 7.0% | 2.3% | 9% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,453 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Elroy, the top three, the last and three more from North Carolina.
Elroy and its neighbors: 29% work next door
Jobs & commute next door
The biggest share goes to Goldsboro. Darker towns draw more of Elroy’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 Elroy: questions
What is the median household income in Elroy?
$63,238 (±$11,247) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Elroy?
14.0%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Elroy?
23 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Elroy work?
<1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Goldsboro (29%, 4 mi), Raleigh (6%, 53 mi), Kinston (5%, 19 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Elroy walkable?
Elroy is more walkable than 6% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 4.7 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Elroy without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Elroy, from the people who make the trip.
More of Elroy
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.