Photo: Gerry Dincher · CC BY-SA 2.0Maxton’s household incomes are among the lowest in the country
Measured by household income, Maxton is among the lowest-earning towns in the country. Below the poverty line: 42.7% of residents, against 13.0% across North Carolina. For jobs and income Maxton is better than 5% of U.S. towns (D−); for walkability it is more walkable than 42% of U.S. towns (C+).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Maxton apart on work
Fewer jobs are based in Maxton than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Maxton fell from 683 in 2013 to 420 in 2023, −39%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
Many jobs in Maxton pay little
33% of the jobs based in Maxton pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. The jobs ↓
Fewer than half of Maxton workers earn over $40,000 a year
41% of Maxton’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 19% earn $1,250 a month or less. 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 755 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The figures behind Maxton’s Jobs & income grade
Job access by car holds Maxton’s grade up (ahead of 38% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($22,667, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (9.5%) is left out: Maxton’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Maxton could be anywhere from D− to D.
Inside Maxton’s 420 jobs
420 jobs are based in Maxton.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Maxton, 2013 → 2023: 683 → 420. 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 Maxton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How a workday changes Maxton
On a workday 735 residents head out to work, 20 work right here, and 400 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,800 people are in Maxton on a workday afternoon, 16% fewer than live here.
0.56 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.
12% of working residents work in Lumberton
Where Maxton clocks in
7% 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.
Each way, about 19 minutes from Maxton
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Maxton workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 596 commuters (the 5% 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Maxton
About 30% 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.
Few in Maxton walk, bike or ride to work
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 629 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). 18.5% of Maxton households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Maxton’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Maxton compares with U.S. towns of 1,500 to 2,900
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 58 | Governors Club NC | 1,787 | $236K | 0.0% | 8.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 107 | Avery Creek NC | 2,887 | $113K | 1.4% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 155 | Wrightsville Beach NC | 2,397 | $152K | 4.0% | 0.4% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,001 | Guin AL | 2,136 | $51K | 18.3% | 11.2% | 18% | D− |
| 5,002 | Independence LA | 1,665 | $40K | 31.0% | 14.2% | 4% | D− |
| 5,003 | Maxton NC | 2,149 | $23K | 42.7% | 9.5% | 3% | D− |
| 5,004 | Albert Township MI | 2,637 | $54K | 17.9% | 7.0% | 18% | D− |
| 5,005 | Tuscarawas Township OH | 1,807 | $29K | 34.9% | 4.9% | 8% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,404 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Maxton, 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 Maxton: questions
What is the median household income in Maxton?
$22,667 (±$5,232) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Maxton?
42.7%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Maxton?
19 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Maxton work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lumberton (12%, 20 mi), Laurinburg (7%, 7 mi), Fayetteville (6%, 32 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Maxton walkable?
Maxton is more walkable than 42% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 7.0 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Maxton without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 18% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Maxton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Maxton
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.