Enfield Graded School · Photo: Cecouchman · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Enfield trail those of 98% of U.S. towns
Enfield grades D− for jobs and income and D for walkability. Poverty touches 20.7% of residents (North Carolina 13.0%). For 1% of workers, the job is at home (North Carolina 16%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Enfield, in a few figures
Enfield and Rocky Mount trade workers both ways
Rocky Mount is the top workplace for Enfield residents (22%) and also where the most people who work in Enfield come from (12% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Enfield workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 33 minutes each way, against 25 across North Carolina. Over a year that’s about 253 hours of commuting, 61 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
Few Enfield workers work from home
Only 1% of workers work from home, against 16% across North Carolina. Almost everyone here travels to a job. 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 647 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Enfield
On income, poverty and job access, Enfield is better than 3% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Enfield’s grade up (ahead of 17% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($34,830, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (21.4%) is left out: Enfield’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, Enfield could be anywhere from D− to D.
22% of working residents work in Rocky Mount
Where Enfield clocks in
22% of workers
3% 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.
Enfield’s commute takes about 33 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Enfield workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 511 commuters (the 1% 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 daily flow of workers through Enfield
On a workday 628 residents head out to work, 19 work right here, and 371 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,500 people are in Enfield on a workday afternoon, 14% fewer than live here.
0.60 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.
Jobs in Enfield: what the 390 are
390 jobs are based in Enfield.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Enfield, 2013 → 2023: 553 → 390. 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 Enfield’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where in the region Enfield works
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.
Enfield is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Enfield is more walkable than 13% 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 515 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). 22.4% of Enfield households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Enfield’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Enfield sits among U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 68 | Governors Club NC | 1,787 | $236K | 0.0% | 8.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 99 | Biltmore Forest NC | 1,469 | $169K | 2.0% | 2.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 161 | Wrightsville Beach NC | 2,397 | $152K | 4.0% | 0.4% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,713 | Sparks GA | 2,098 | $39K | 27.6% | 2.9% | <1% | D− |
| 5,714 | Oberlin LA | 1,286 | $32K | 22.1% | 3.1% | 12% | D− |
| 5,715 | Enfield NC | 1,777 | $35K | 20.7% | 21.4% | 3% | D− |
| 5,716 | McColl SC | 1,974 | $27K | 41.9% | 9.0% | 4% | D− |
| 5,717 | Memphis TX | 1,969 | $48K | 17.3% | 10.3% | 23% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 6,085 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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 Enfield, 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 Enfield: questions
What is the median household income in Enfield?
$34,830 (±$9,550) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Enfield?
20.7%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Enfield?
33 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Enfield work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Rocky Mount (22%, 16 mi), Raleigh (3%, 59 mi), Roanoke Rapids (3%, 18 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Enfield walkable?
Enfield is more walkable than 13% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 5.9 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Enfield without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 22% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Enfield, from the people who make the trip.
More of Enfield
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.