Photo: sdeanjameson · CC BY 2.0Household incomes in Moravian Falls are lower than in 90% of U.S. towns
Commuters spend 22 minutes getting to work on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 5.4% of residents live below the poverty line (North Carolina 13.0%). The two grades for Moravian Falls are C+ for jobs and income and C− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Moravian Falls apart on work
31% of Moravian Falls works in Wilkesboro
178 working residents, 31%, have their main job in Wilkesboro, 2.4 miles away across the town line. That’s 16 times as many as work in Moravian Falls itself. The commute map ↓
Moravian Falls makes and builds things
44% of the jobs based in Moravian Falls are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Moravian Falls residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 21%. 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 579 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where Moravian Falls’ Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty and job access, Moravian Falls is better than 38% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Moravian Falls’ grade up; household income pulls it down ($47,548, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (0.0%) is left out: Moravian Falls’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, Moravian Falls could be anywhere from C− to B.
31% of working residents work in Wilkesboro
Where Moravian Falls clocks in
31% 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.
Factories, building and farms: 44% of the jobs in Moravian Falls
317 jobs are based in Moravian Falls.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Moravian Falls, 2013 → 2023: 314 → 317. 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 Moravian Falls’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily commute in and out of Moravian Falls
On a workday 570 residents head out to work, 9 work right here, and 308 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,000 people are in Moravian Falls on a workday afternoon, 20% fewer than live here.
0.55 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.
Commuting from Moravian Falls: about 22 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Moravian Falls workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 418 commuters (the 19% 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.
Moravian Falls’ commute, mile by mile
About 28% 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 Moravian Falls walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Moravian Falls is more walkable than 16% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any 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 513 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). 0.0% of Moravian Falls households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Moravian Falls’ commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 900 to 1,700, Moravian Falls ranks 2,273rd of 4,866 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 76 | Biltmore Forest NC | 1,469 | $169K | 2.0% | 2.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 285 | Montreat NC | 1,024 | $116K | 0.0% | 9.6% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 324 | Advance NC | 1,408 | $115K | 5.0% | 0.0% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,271 | Athens NY | 1,581 | $84K | 11.1% | 5.6% | 4% | C+ |
| 2,272 | Scott NY | 1,063 | $94K | 12.8% | 10.7% | 1% | C+ |
| 2,273 | Moravian Falls NC | 1,285 | $48K | 5.4% | 0.0% | 2% | C+ |
| 2,274 | Castle Dale UT | 1,547 | $83K | 8.0% | 2.1% | 19% | C+ |
| 2,275 | Hilbert WI | 1,237 | $61K | 14.3% | 1.3% | 7% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,866 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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 Moravian Falls, the top three, the last and three more from North Carolina.
31% of Moravian Falls works in a bordering town
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Moravian Falls workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Moravian Falls | – | C+ | C− | 22 min | $47,548 |
| Wilkesboro | 31% | C− | A− | 19 min | $40,907 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Wilkesboro. Darker towns draw more of Moravian Falls’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 Moravian Falls: questions
What is the median household income in Moravian Falls?
$47,548 (±$18,493) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Moravian Falls?
5.4%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Moravian Falls?
22 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 Moravian Falls work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Wilkesboro (31%, 2 mi), North Wilkesboro (9%, 5 mi), Winston-Salem (7%, 52 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Moravian Falls walkable?
Moravian Falls is more walkable than 16% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 6.3 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Moravian Falls without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Moravian Falls, from the people who make the trip.
More of Moravian Falls
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.