Central School Historic District · Photo: Upstateherd · CC BY-SA 3.0Kings Mountain has lower household incomes than 88% of U.S. towns
7% of workers have no commute at all, against 16% across North Carolina. 23.0% of residents live below the poverty line, next to 13.0% for North Carolina as a whole. The two grades for Kings Mountain are C− for jobs and income and B− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in Kings Mountain, in brief
Kings Mountain makes and builds things
48% of the jobs based in Kings Mountain are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Kings Mountain residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 27%. The jobs ↓
Kings Mountain draws workers from far and wide
The 7,116 jobs in Kings Mountain are filled from a wide area. Kings Mountain’s own residents hold 10% and the ten next-biggest home towns 23%; the other 67% 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.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Kings Mountain
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Kings Mountain is better than 18% of U.S. towns, #238 of 290 in North Carolina. Job access by car holds Kings Mountain’s grade up (ahead of 72% 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, Kings Mountain could be anywhere from D to C.
Kings Mountain makes things: 48% of its jobs are in goods
7,116 jobs are based in Kings Mountain.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Kings Mountain, 2013 → 2023: 6,897 → 7,116. 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 Kings Mountain’s own residents hold wherever they work.
17% of working residents work in Gastonia
Where Kings Mountain clocks in
17% of workers
11% 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.
The daily commute in and out of Kings Mountain
On a workday 4,085 residents head out to work, 710 work right here, and 6,406 people come in from elsewhere.
About 14,000 people are in Kings Mountain on a workday afternoon, 19% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.48 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
From Kings Mountain, about 25 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Kings Mountain workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,829 commuters (the 7% 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.
Where in the region Kings Mountain works
About 17% 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.
In Kings Mountain, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Kings Mountain is more walkable than 48% of U.S. towns, #129 of 290 in North Carolina. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.6% 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 5,206 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). 9.0% of Kings Mountain households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Kings Mountain’s commuters take a bus or train.
2,390th of 2,695: where Kings Mountain ranks among U.S. towns of 8,000 to 16,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 63 | Weddington NC | 14,517 | $191K | 4.0% | 1.8% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 293 | Rolesville NC | 12,839 | $150K | 1.1% | 3.7% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 372 | Summerfield NC | 11,327 | $160K | 7.1% | 2.1% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,388 | Clinton MO | 9,504 | $51K | 15.2% | 4.7% | 42% | C− |
| 2,389 | Bellevue OH | 8,154 | $54K | 18.9% | 6.4% | 21% | C− |
| 2,390 | Kings Mountain NC | 12,117 | $50K | 23.0% | 7.7% | 15% | C− |
| 2,391 | Hillsdale MI | 8,002 | $51K | 22.9% | 4.4% | 29% | C− |
| 2,392 | Oneonta NY | 15,665 | $61K | 16.6% | 6.4% | 22% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,695 | Roma TX | 11,543 | $25K | 37.1% | 12.4% | 22% | 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 Kings Mountain, the top three, the last and three more from North Carolina.
Kings Mountain and its neighbors: 17% work next door
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Kings Mountain workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kings Mountain | – | C− | B− | 25 min | $49,564 |
| Gastonia | 17% | C+ | B− | 27 min | $64,059 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Gastonia. Darker towns draw more of Kings Mountain’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 Kings Mountain: questions
What is the median household income in Kings Mountain?
$49,564 (±$5,047) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Kings Mountain?
23.0%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Kings Mountain?
25 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Kings Mountain work?
15% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Gastonia (17%, 10 mi), Charlotte (11%, 29 mi), Shelby (7%, 12 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Kings Mountain walkable?
Kings Mountain is more walkable than 48% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.3 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Kings Mountain without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Kings Mountain, from the people who make the trip.
More of Kings Mountain
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.