Photo: justinknabb · CC BY-SA 2.0Household incomes in Maggie Valley are lower than in 61% of U.S. towns
For jobs and income Maggie Valley is better than 27% of U.S. towns (C); for walkability it is more walkable than 24% of U.S. towns (C−). 14.7% of residents live below the poverty line; North Carolina has 13.0%. About one in ten work in Maggie Valley itself; outside it, Asheville draws the most (14%, 29 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Maggie Valley: the gist
Maggie Valley’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Maggie Valley is Asheville, 29 miles away as the crow flies. 14% of working residents (110) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Maggie Valley
49% of Maggie Valley residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 31% of the jobs based in Maggie Valley pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 89% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
Many jobs in Maggie Valley pay little
26% of the jobs based in Maggie Valley pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. The jobs ↓
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; with 807 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Maggie Valley
All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Maggie Valley’s grade.
Unemployment (2.0%) is left out: Maggie Valley’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Maggie Valley could be anywhere from D to B−.
How far Maggie Valley’s workers travel
About 18% 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.
Health, schools and offices: most of the jobs in Maggie Valley
846 jobs are based in Maggie Valley.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Maggie Valley, 2013 → 2023: 722 → 846. 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 Maggie Valley’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How a workday changes Maggie Valley
On a workday 715 residents head out to work, 92 work right here, and 754 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.05 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.
Out of Maggie Valley to work: where people go
Where Maggie Valley clocks in
12% of workers
4% 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.
About 30 minutes each way, longer than most of North Carolina
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Maggie Valley workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 634 commuters (the 18% 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.
In Maggie Valley, most people drive to work
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.4% 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 774 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). 4.1% of Maggie Valley households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Maggie Valley’s commuters take a bus or train.
Maggie Valley next to U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,400: 3,817th of 6,085 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 68 | Governors Club NC | 1,787 | $236K | 0.0% | 8.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 99 | Biltmore Forest NC | 1,469 | $169K | 2.0% | 2.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 161 | Wrightsville Beach NC | 2,397 | $152K | 4.0% | 0.4% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,815 | Rio VA | 1,252 | $56K | 22.2% | 8.0% | 5% | C |
| 3,816 | Freeland WA | 1,548 | $83K | 12.1% | 6.5% | 7% | C |
| 3,817 | Maggie Valley NC | 1,748 | $68K | 14.7% | 2.0% | 11% | C |
| 3,818 | Hughesville PA | 2,089 | $65K | 16.5% | 5.7% | 6% | C |
| 3,819 | Granville WV | 1,362 | $32K | 45.8% | 11.0% | 4% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 6,085 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | 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 Maggie Valley, 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 Maggie Valley: questions
What is the median household income in Maggie Valley?
$68,125 (±$8,518) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Maggie Valley?
14.7%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Maggie Valley?
30 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 18% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Maggie Valley work?
11% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Asheville (14%, 29 mi), Waynesville (12%, 4 mi), Sylva (4%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Maggie Valley walkable?
Maggie Valley is more walkable than 24% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 6.5 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Maggie Valley without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Maggie Valley, from the people who make the trip.
More of Maggie Valley
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.