Most of Glen Alpine commutes out: there are 0.2 jobs for every working resident
There are 102 jobs in Glen Alpine for 631 working residents. For jobs and income Glen Alpine is better than 28% of U.S. towns (C); for walkability it is more walkable than 11% of U.S. towns (D). 8% 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
Jobs and commuting in Glen Alpine: the gist
Glen Alpine is a place people come home to
There are 102 jobs based in Glen Alpine, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Glen Alpine has about 1,000 people in it, 34% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Glen Alpine and Morganton trade workers both ways
Morganton is the top workplace for Glen Alpine residents (35%) and also where the most people who work in Glen Alpine come from (14% of its jobs). 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; with 631 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Glen Alpine
The poverty rate holds Glen Alpine’s grade up (11.0%, U.S. 12.5%); unemployment pulls it down (6.7%, U.S. 5.2%).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Glen Alpine could be anywhere from D to A−.
Glen Alpine by day and by night
On a workday 628 residents head out to work, 3 work right here, and 99 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,000 people are in Glen Alpine on a workday afternoon, 34% 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.
35% of working residents work in Morganton
Where Glen Alpine clocks in
35% of workers
6% 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.
Health, schools and offices: most of the jobs in Glen Alpine
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Glen Alpine, 2013 → 2023: 158 → 102. 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 Glen Alpine’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Glen Alpine, about 26 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Glen Alpine workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 947 commuters (the 8% 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Glen Alpine
About 24% 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.
Few in Glen Alpine walk, bike or ride to work
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,030 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). 0.4% of Glen Alpine households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Glen Alpine’s commuters take a bus or train.
Glen Alpine places 3,489th of 5,794 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,100
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 70 | Governors Club NC | 1,787 | $236K | 0.0% | 8.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 95 | Biltmore Forest NC | 1,469 | $169K | 2.0% | 2.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 296 | Northlakes NC | 1,716 | $101K | 2.0% | 1.0% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,487 | Edwardsburg MI | 1,286 | $53K | 18.0% | 2.9% | 6% | C |
| 3,488 | Hoyt Lakes MN | 1,978 | $66K | 7.3% | 13.9% | 11% | C |
| 3,489 | Glen Alpine NC | 1,552 | $70K | 11.0% | 6.7% | <1% | C |
| 3,490 | New Sharon ME | 1,614 | $64K | 9.6% | 0.0% | 4% | C |
| 3,491 | Gibson Township MI | 1,107 | $62K | 6.6% | 3.3% | 1% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 5,794 | 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 Glen Alpine, the top three, the last and three more from North Carolina.
The towns next door employ 35% of Glen Alpine
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Glen Alpine workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glen Alpine | – | C | D | 26 min | $69,697 |
| Morganton | 35% | C− | C+ | 18 min | $51,355 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Morganton. Darker towns draw more of Glen Alpine’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 Glen Alpine: questions
What is the median household income in Glen Alpine?
$69,697 (±$11,068) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Glen Alpine?
11.0%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Glen Alpine?
26 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 Glen Alpine work?
<1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Morganton (35%, 5 mi), Charlotte (6%, 64 mi), Marion (4%, 13 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Glen Alpine walkable?
Glen Alpine is more walkable than 11% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 5.0 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Glen Alpine without a car?
<1% 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 Glen Alpine, from the people who make the trip.
More of Glen Alpine
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.