Carson-Young House · Photo: rossograph · CC BY-SA 4.0There are 2.0 jobs in Marion for every working resident, and 6,634 people commute in
7,387 jobs are based in Marion for 3,630 working residents. For jobs and income Marion is better than 13% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 52% of U.S. towns (B−). Household incomes here are lower than in 86% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Marion
Marion draws workers from far and wide
The 7,387 jobs in Marion are filled from a wide area. Marion’s own residents hold 10% and the ten next-biggest home towns 11%; the other 79% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Marion is where the jobs are
Marion has 7,387 jobs, 2.0 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 11,000 people are in town, 50% more than the 7,400 who live here. Day and night ↓
Marion’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Marion is Asheville, 32 miles away as the crow flies. 8% of working residents (273) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Few Marion workers work from home
Only 3% of workers work from home, against 16% across North Carolina. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
No single place dominates Marion’s commute
The biggest draw, Asheville, gets only 8% of working residents, and 51% work outside the top ten towns entirely. Marion residents fan out across the region. 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.
Inside Marion’s Jobs & income grade
Job access by car holds Marion’s grade up (ahead of 33% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (23.5%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Marion could be anywhere from D− to C+.
The towns that send workers to Marion
Where Marion clocks in
6% of workers
6% 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.
Who commutes out of Marion, and who commutes in
On a workday 2,877 residents head out to work and 753 work right here.
About 11,000 people are in Marion on a workday afternoon, 50% more than live here.
2.0 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Marion
About 26% 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.
A commute of about 22 minutes in Marion
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Marion workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,547 commuters (the 3% 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.
What Marion’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Marion, 2013 → 2023: 6,536 → 7,387. 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 Marion’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Few in Marion walk, bike or ride to work
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.0% 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 2,616 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). 9.7% of Marion households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Marion’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Marion compares with U.S. towns of 5,200 to 10,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 191 | Oak Ridge NC | 7,896 | $155K | 3.6% | 2.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 363 | Ogden NC | 8,249 | $121K | 4.8% | 1.4% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 406 | Stokesdale NC | 6,133 | $121K | 5.6% | 1.9% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,804 | Starke FL | 5,963 | $52K | 28.7% | 4.0% | 16% | D |
| 2,805 | Clinton SC | 7,918 | $45K | 27.7% | 4.9% | 14% | D |
| 2,806 | Marion NC | 7,440 | $51K | 23.5% | 5.4% | 21% | D |
| 2,807 | Fort Meade FL | 5,379 | $37K | 21.9% | 5.3% | 6% | D |
| 2,808 | Lewistown PA | 8,385 | $40K | 35.7% | 4.3% | 13% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 3,083 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Marion, the top three, the last and three more from North Carolina.
Around Marion: the bordering towns
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Marion workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marion | – | D | B− | 22 min | $51,314 |
| West Marion | under 1% | D | C− | 19 min | $36,715 |
| Nebo | under 1% | D | B− | 27 min | $50,139 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Marion’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 Marion: questions
What is the median household income in Marion?
$51,314 (±$16,150) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Marion?
23.5%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Marion?
22 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Marion work?
21% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Asheville (8%, 32 mi), Charlotte (6%, 73 mi), Morganton (6%, 17 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Marion walkable?
Marion is more walkable than 52% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 8.5 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Marion without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Marion, from the people who make the trip.
More of Marion
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.