Spears House · Photo: RoxylovesHistory · CC BY-SA 4.0Most of Midland commutes out: there are 0.3 jobs for every working resident
1,028 jobs are based in Midland, and 3,065 of its residents work somewhere. For jobs and income Midland is better than 93% of U.S. towns (A); for walkability it is more walkable than 41% of U.S. towns (C+). Measured by household income, Midland is ahead of 78% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Midland stands out on work
38% of Midland works in Charlotte
1,174 working residents, 38%, have their main job in Charlotte, 17 miles away. That’s 13 times as many as work in Midland itself. The commute map ↓
Midland makes and builds things
45% of the jobs based in Midland are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Midland residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 16%. The jobs ↓
Midland workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 32 minutes each way, against 25 across North Carolina. Over a year that’s about 245 hours of commuting, 54 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
Midland empties out on a workday
About 3,100 people are in Midland on a workday afternoon, 40% fewer than the 5,200 who live here: 3,000 head out to work and 950 come in. Day and night ↓
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.
The figures behind Midland’s Jobs & income grade
All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Midland’s grade. It also does well on household income and the poverty rate and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Midland could be anywhere from B+ to A+.
38% of working residents work in Charlotte
Where Midland clocks in
38% of workers
11% of workers
2% 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.
A place that makes things: 45% of Midland’s jobs are in goods
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Midland, 2013 → 2023: 823 → 1,028. 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 Midland’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 32 minutes to work from Midland
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Midland workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,135 commuters (the 21% 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.
A workday in Midland: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 2,988 residents head out to work, 77 work right here, and 951 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,100 people are in Midland on a workday afternoon, 40% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Miles to work from Midland
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.
Driving is how Midland gets around
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 2.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 2.9% across North Carolina, on an EPA index of 5.6.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,705 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 0.6% of Midland households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Midland’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 3,600 to 7,000, Midland ranks 303rd of 3,696 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 91 | Jamestown NC | 3,803 | $105K | 2.5% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 201 | Fairview NC | 3,805 | $99K | 1.8% | 1.8% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 301 | Lake Darby OH | 4,608 | $97K | 5.1% | 2.0% | <1% | A |
| 302 | Rock Hill MO | 4,668 | $95K | 5.2% | 2.6% | 2% | A |
| 303 | Midland NC | 5,151 | $101K | 4.1% | 1.8% | 3% | A |
| 304 | Fleetwood PA | 4,094 | $93K | 5.0% | 1.0% | 5% | A |
| 305 | Polk WI | 4,041 | $99K | 1.8% | 2.9% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 407 | Stokesdale NC | 6,133 | $121K | 5.6% | 1.9% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,696 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Midland, the top three, the last and three more from North Carolina.
Midland and the towns next door
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Midland’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 Midland: questions
What is the median household income in Midland?
$101,477 (±$20,476) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Midland?
4.1%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Midland?
32 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 21% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Midland work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Charlotte (38%, 17 mi), Concord (11%, 12 mi), Indian Trail (2%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Midland walkable?
Midland is more walkable than 41% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 5.6 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Midland without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Midland, from the people who make the trip.
More of Midland
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.