Photo: Ceh2624 · CC BY-SA 3.0Kernersville has lower unemployment (2.7%) than 75% of U.S. towns
About one in ten work in Kernersville itself; outside it, Winston-Salem draws the most (25%, 10 miles). Jobs and income earn Kernersville B; getting around on foot earns it C+. Commuters spend 23 minutes getting to work on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Kernersville apart on work
A lot of Kernersville works one town over
43% of working residents work in a town that borders Kernersville: Winston-Salem (25%) and Greensboro (18%). Next door ↓
Kernersville is where the jobs are
Kernersville has 18,792 jobs, 1.6 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Kernersville has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Kernersville went from 13,740 in 2014 to 18,792 in 2024, +37%. The jobs ↓
Stores, warehouses and trucking
40% of the jobs in Kernersville are in trade, transport and utilities, against 24% of the jobs its residents hold. The jobs ↓
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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Why Kernersville gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Kernersville is better than 64% of U.S. towns, #90 of 290 in North Carolina. Job access by car holds Kernersville’s grade up (ahead of 80% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (12.6%, 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, Kernersville could be anywhere from B− to B+.
The workday shuffle in and out of Kernersville
On a workday 10,712 residents head out to work, 1,394 work right here, and 17,398 people come in from elsewhere.
About 36,000 people are in Kernersville on a workday afternoon, 23% more than live here.
1.6 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.
The 18,792 jobs based in Kernersville
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Kernersville, 2014 → 2024: 13,740 → 18,792. 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 Kernersville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where the people who work in Kernersville live
Where Kernersville clocks in
18% 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.
A commute of about 23 minutes in Kernersville
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Kernersville workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 12,235 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.
Miles to work from Kernersville
About 22% 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.
Few in Kernersville walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Kernersville is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns, #138 of 290 in North Carolina. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.8% 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 14,003 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 7% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 45% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 3.9% of Kernersville households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Kernersville’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Kernersville is 789th among 1,467 U.S. towns of 20,000 to 39,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 64 | Matthews NC | 32,769 | $109K | 3.7% | 2.1% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 89 | Harrisburg NC | 20,742 | $148K | 3.7% | 3.0% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 108 | Morrisville NC | 32,466 | $125K | 3.1% | 3.3% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 787 | Brandon MS | 26,122 | $93K | 8.5% | 5.2% | 10% | B |
| 788 | Rahway NJ | 31,010 | $91K | 9.5% | 7.3% | 7% | B |
| 789 | Kernersville NC | 29,128 | $72K | 12.6% | 2.7% | 12% | B |
| 790 | Hillside Township NJ | 22,860 | $100K | 10.7% | 7.6% | 5% | B |
| 791 | Galt CA | 26,964 | $94K | 8.0% | 6.1% | 11% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,467 | Barstow CA | 24,804 | $53K | 23.1% | 11.9% | 16% | 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 Kernersville, the top three, the last and three more from North Carolina.
43% of Kernersville works in a town next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Kernersville workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kernersville | – | B | C+ | 23 min | $71,918 |
| Winston-Salem | 25% | C | B+ | 22 min | $59,268 |
| Walkertown | under 1% | B+ | C− | 24 min | $82,615 |
| Greensboro | 18% | C+ | A− | 22 min | $61,515 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Winston-Salem. Darker towns draw more of Kernersville’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 Kernersville: questions
What is the median household income in Kernersville?
$71,918 (±$3,532) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Kernersville?
12.6%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Kernersville?
23 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 Kernersville work?
12% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Winston-Salem (25%, 10 mi), Greensboro (18%, 14 mi), High Point (8%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Kernersville walkable?
Kernersville is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 7.9 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Kernersville without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Kernersville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Kernersville
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.