Photo: Beckycafferylepage · CC BY-SA 4.0There are 1.7 jobs in Monroe for every working resident, and 22,367 people commute in
25,643 jobs are based in Monroe; 14,701 of its residents have a job. Jobs and income earn Monroe B−; getting around on foot earns it C+. 8% of workers work from home; North Carolina has 16%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Monroe in brief
Monroe is where the jobs are
Monroe has 25,643 jobs, 1.7 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Monroe and Charlotte trade workers both ways
Charlotte is the top workplace for Monroe residents (29%) and also where the most people who work in Monroe come from (10% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Monroe draws workers from far and wide
The 25,643 jobs in Monroe are filled from a wide area. Monroe’s own residents hold 13% and the ten next-biggest home towns 26%; the other 61% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
The biggest group of Monroe’s workers comes from Charlotte
2,639 of the people who work in Monroe live in Charlotte, 21 miles away, more than from any other town. The commute map ↓
Monroe makes and builds things
37% of the jobs based in Monroe are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Monroe residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 23%. 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.
What’s behind Monroe’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Monroe is better than 50% of U.S. towns, #125 of 290 in North Carolina. Job access by car holds Monroe’s grade up (ahead of 77% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (13.3%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Monroe could be anywhere from C+ to B+.
Monroe by day and by night
On a workday 11,425 residents head out to work and 3,276 work right here.
About 54,000 people are in Monroe 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.
Who travels to work in Monroe, and from where
Where Monroe clocks in
29% of workers
6% of workers
3% 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.
Goods jobs make up 37% of work in Monroe
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Monroe, 2013 → 2023: 22,950 → 25,643. 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 Monroe’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 30 minutes each way for Monroe’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Monroe workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 16,098 commuters (the 7% 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Monroe
About 17% 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.
Getting around Monroe: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Monroe is more walkable than 40% of U.S. towns, #160 of 290 in North Carolina. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.9% 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 17,394 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 0.8 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 55% 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). 6.1% of Monroe households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Monroe’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Monroe is 705th of 1,011 U.S. towns of 30,000 to 58,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 36 | Matthews NC | 32,769 | $109K | 3.7% | 2.1% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 63 | Morrisville NC | 32,466 | $125K | 3.1% | 3.3% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 103 | Cornelius NC | 35,094 | $114K | 5.4% | 2.4% | 10% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 703 | Kearney NE | 34,782 | $70K | 12.4% | 2.9% | 61% | B− |
| 704 | Pinellas Park FL | 52,295 | $63K | 12.9% | 4.6% | 13% | B− |
| 705 | Monroe NC | 42,644 | $73K | 13.3% | 4.6% | 22% | B− |
| 706 | Juneau AK | 31,609 | $102K | 8.9% | 4.0% | — | B− |
| 707 | New Smyrna Beach FL | 33,182 | $84K | 8.2% | 5.2% | 20% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,011 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 Monroe, the top three, the last and three more from North Carolina.
Around Monroe: the bordering towns
The biggest share goes to Indian Trail (6%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Monroe workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monroe | – | B− | C+ | 30 min | $72,540 |
| Unionville | under 1% | B+ | D | 31 min | $96,028 |
| Indian Trail | 6% | A− | C | 28 min | $108,483 |
| Wesley Chapel | under 1% | A | C− | 32 min | $132,188 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Monroe’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 Monroe: questions
What is the median household income in Monroe?
$72,540 (±$7,677) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Monroe?
13.3%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Monroe?
30 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Monroe work?
22% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Charlotte (29%, 21 mi), Indian Trail (6%, 7 mi), Matthews (3%, 12 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Monroe walkable?
Monroe is more walkable than 40% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 7.4 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Monroe without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Monroe, from the people who make the trip.
More of Monroe
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.