Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0Lincolnton has lower household incomes than 92% of U.S. towns
About one in seven work in Lincolnton itself; outside it, Charlotte draws the most (18%, 30 miles). Poverty touches 22.7% of residents, against 13.0% across North Carolina. The two grades for Lincolnton 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 in Lincolnton, in a few figures
Lincolnton draws workers from far and wide
The 8,249 jobs in Lincolnton are filled from a wide area. Lincolnton’s own residents hold 8% and the ten next-biggest home towns 16%; the other 76% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Lincolnton is where the jobs are
Lincolnton has 8,249 jobs, 1.7 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Lincolnton’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Lincolnton is Charlotte, 30 miles away as the crow flies. 18% of working residents (868) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
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.
Why Lincolnton gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Lincolnton is better than 26% of U.S. towns, #201 of 290 in North Carolina. Job access by car holds Lincolnton’s grade up (ahead of 57% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($46,320, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on unemployment.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Lincolnton could be anywhere from D to B−.
The towns that send workers to Lincolnton
Where Lincolnton clocks in
18% of workers
7% 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.
The daily flow of workers through Lincolnton
On a workday 4,271 residents head out to work, 683 work right here, and 7,566 people come in from elsewhere.
About 16,000 people are in Lincolnton on a workday afternoon, 26% more than live here.
1.7 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 2023, primary jobs.
The distance from Lincolnton to work
About 15% 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.
Inside Lincolnton’s 8,249 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lincolnton, 2013 → 2023: 8,211 → 8,249. 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 Lincolnton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The trip to work from Lincolnton: about 25 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lincolnton workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,442 commuters (the 12% 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.
For most of Lincolnton, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Lincolnton is more walkable than 69% of U.S. towns, #63 of 290 in North Carolina. Both inputs place Lincolnton near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 5,032 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). 6.4% of Lincolnton households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Lincolnton’s commuters take a bus or train.
Lincolnton next to U.S. towns of 9,000 to 17,000: 1,939th of 2,354 on jobs and income
| # | 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 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 55 | Weddington NC | 14,517 | $191K | 4.0% | 1.8% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 258 | Rolesville NC | 12,839 | $150K | 1.1% | 3.7% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 331 | Summerfield NC | 11,327 | $160K | 7.1% | 2.1% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,937 | Scottsboro AL | 16,123 | $54K | 18.6% | 3.5% | 43% | C |
| 1,938 | Canton MS | 10,873 | $38K | 33.3% | 3.5% | 19% | C |
| 1,939 | Lincolnton NC | 12,465 | $46K | 22.7% | 3.8% | 14% | C |
| 1,940 | Kingston PA | 13,462 | $55K | 18.3% | 6.4% | 10% | C |
| 1,941 | Camden SC | 9,201 | $64K | 13.2% | 8.2% | 17% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 2,354 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Lincolnton, the top three, the last and three more from North Carolina.
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 Lincolnton: questions
What is the median household income in Lincolnton?
$46,320 (±$4,828) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lincolnton?
22.7%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lincolnton?
25 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lincolnton work?
14% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Charlotte (18%, 30 mi), Gastonia (7%, 16 mi), Hickory (5%, 19 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Lincolnton walkable?
Lincolnton is more walkable than 69% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.2 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lincolnton without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lincolnton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lincolnton
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.