Borden Manufacturing Company · Photo: Nyttend · Public domainGoldsboro has lower household incomes than 90% of U.S. towns
5% of workers work from home (North Carolina 16%). 22.8% of residents are in poverty (North Carolina 13.0%). For jobs and income Goldsboro is better than 13% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 70% of U.S. towns (B+).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Goldsboro: the figures worth knowing
Goldsboro draws workers from far and wide
The 23,134 jobs in Goldsboro are filled from a wide area. Goldsboro’s own residents hold 16% and the ten next-biggest home towns 12%; the other 72% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Goldsboro is where the jobs are
Goldsboro has 23,134 jobs, 1.9 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Goldsboro are quick
The average trip to work takes 18 minutes, against 25 across North Carolina. That’s about 54 hours a year less on the road than the typical North Carolina worker. Time on the road ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Jobs & income in Goldsboro: the grade in detail
Job access by car holds Goldsboro’s grade up (ahead of 57% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Goldsboro could be anywhere from D to C−.
Where the people who work in Goldsboro live
Where Goldsboro clocks in
6% 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.
Who commutes out of Goldsboro, and who commutes in
On a workday 8,728 residents head out to work, 3,671 work right here, and 19,463 people come in from elsewhere.
About 46,000 people are in Goldsboro on a workday afternoon, 31% more than live here.
1.9 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 2024, primary jobs.
About 18 minutes each way, quicker than most of North Carolina
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Goldsboro workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 13,682 commuters (the 5% 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 kinds of work in Goldsboro
23,134 jobs are based in Goldsboro.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Goldsboro, 2014 → 2024: 22,182 → 23,134. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Goldsboro’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Goldsboro’s commute, mile by mile
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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Goldsboro is a driving town
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 14,375 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). 15.1% of Goldsboro households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Goldsboro’s commuters take a bus or train.
Goldsboro next to U.S. towns of 25,000 to 47,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| 2 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 55 | Matthews NC | 32,769 | $109K | 3.7% | 2.1% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 89 | Morrisville NC | 32,466 | $125K | 3.1% | 3.3% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 132 | Cornelius NC | 35,094 | $114K | 5.4% | 2.4% | 9% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,159 | Muskogee OK | 36,760 | $50K | 24.1% | 6.7% | 46% | D |
| 1,160 | Decatur Township IL | 45,203 | $49K | 24.2% | 9.9% | 43% | D |
| 1,161 | Goldsboro NC | 35,012 | $49K | 22.8% | 8.0% | 30% | D |
| 1,162 | Port Huron MI | 28,273 | $50K | 22.6% | 8.9% | 23% | D |
| 1,163 | Texarkana AR | 29,123 | $46K | 25.8% | 7.5% | 27% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 1,194 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 25% | 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 Goldsboro, the top three, the last and three more from North Carolina.
Around Goldsboro: the bordering towns
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Goldsboro’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 2024, 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 Goldsboro: questions
What is the median household income in Goldsboro?
$48,540 (±$2,573) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Goldsboro?
22.8%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Goldsboro?
18 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Goldsboro work?
30% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Raleigh (6%, 49 mi), Kinston (4%, 22 mi), Wilson (3%, 24 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Goldsboro walkable?
Goldsboro is more walkable than 70% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.9 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Goldsboro without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 15% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Goldsboro, from the people who make the trip.
More of Goldsboro
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.