Hickory Municipal Building · Photo: Tylerg · CC BY-SA 3.0Hickory has 2.3 jobs for every working resident: 38,183 people commute in to work
For jobs and income Hickory is better than 44% of U.S. towns (C+); for walkability it is more walkable than 55% of U.S. towns (B). There are 44,453 jobs in Hickory, against 19,055 working residents. About one in three work in Hickory; the top destination outside it is Charlotte (8%, 46 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Hickory and work: the main findings
Hickory is where the jobs are
Hickory has 44,453 jobs, 2.3 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 71,000 people are in town, 55% more than the 46,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
Hickory’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Hickory is Charlotte, 46 miles away as the crow flies. 8% of working residents (1,601) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Hickory draws workers from far and wide
The 44,453 jobs in Hickory are filled from a wide area. Hickory’s own residents hold 14% and the ten next-biggest home towns 17%; the other 69% come from many towns beyond those. 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.
The figures behind Hickory’s Jobs & income grade
Job access by car holds Hickory’s grade up (ahead of 70% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (17.1%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Hickory could be anywhere from C to B.
How a workday changes Hickory
On a workday 12,785 residents head out to work and 6,270 work right here.
About 71,000 people are in Hickory on a workday afternoon, 55% more 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.
How many miles Hickory commutes
About 16% 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.
Where Hickory’s workforce comes from
Where Hickory clocks in
8% of workers
5% of workers
5% 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.
What Hickory’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Hickory, 2013 → 2023: 39,178 → 44,453. 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 Hickory’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The trip to work from Hickory: about 21 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Hickory workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 17,627 commuters (the 13% 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.
Few in Hickory walk, bike or ride to work
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.4% of 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 20,242 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). 7.5% of Hickory households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Hickory’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Hickory is 724th of 969 U.S. towns of 32,000 to 62,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| 3 | Upper Arlington OH | 35,893 | $155K | 3.3% | 2.0% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 33 | Matthews NC | 32,769 | $109K | 3.7% | 2.1% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 56 | Morrisville NC | 32,466 | $125K | 3.1% | 3.3% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 95 | Cornelius NC | 35,094 | $114K | 5.4% | 2.4% | 10% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 722 | Berkeley Township NJ | 45,550 | $66K | 8.0% | 7.5% | 8% | C+ |
| 723 | North Lauderdale FL | 45,733 | $63K | 14.0% | 6.1% | 3% | C+ |
| 724 | Hickory NC | 45,975 | $65K | 17.1% | 3.8% | 33% | C+ |
| 725 | Hobart Township IN | 39,973 | $70K | 12.4% | 7.3% | 12% | C+ |
| 726 | Pensacola FL | 53,817 | $74K | 12.6% | 6.3% | 39% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 969 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 Hickory, the top three, the last and three more from North Carolina.
Bordering towns draw 12% of Hickory’s workers
The biggest share goes to Conover (5%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Hickory workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hickory | – | C+ | B | 21 min | $64,576 |
| St. Stephens | under 2% | B− | C− | 22 min | $60,394 |
| Mountain View | under 2% | C+ | C− | 19 min | $71,792 |
| Long View | 2% | B− | C+ | 24 min | $46,739 |
| Brookford | under 2% | — | — | 23 min | — |
| Conover | 5% | B− | B− | 19 min | $65,972 |
| Northlakes | under 2% | A | D | 18 min | $101,250 |
| Newton | 5% | C | C+ | 22 min | $62,015 |
| Granite Falls | under 2% | C− | C+ | 24 min | $56,917 |
Same-state neighbors only. Brookford: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Hickory’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 Hickory: questions
What is the median household income in Hickory?
$64,576 (±$5,348) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Hickory?
17.1%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Hickory?
21 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Hickory work?
33% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Charlotte (8%, 46 mi), Conover (5%, 6 mi), Newton (5%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Hickory walkable?
Hickory is more walkable than 55% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 8.3 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Hickory without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Hickory, from the people who make the trip.
More of Hickory
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.