Southerland-Burnette House · Photo: Quincy Morgan · CC0Mount Olive has higher unemployment (9.8%) than 94% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Mount Olive D; getting around on foot earns it B. Household incomes here are lower than in 89% of U.S. towns. For 6% of workers, the job is at home, against 16% across North Carolina.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Mount Olive, in a few figures
Mount Olive is where the jobs are
Mount Olive has 3,100 jobs, 2.0 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Mount Olive are quick
The average trip to work takes 19 minutes, against 25 across North Carolina. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical North Carolina worker. Time on the road ↓
A big share show a job far from home
30% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
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 Mount Olive’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Mount Olive is better than 9% of U.S. towns, #267 of 290 in North Carolina. Job access by car holds Mount Olive’s grade up (ahead of 37% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Mount Olive could be anywhere from D− to C.
Mount Olive on a workday afternoon
On a workday 1,357 residents head out to work, 221 work right here, and 2,879 people come in from elsewhere.
About 6,000 people are in Mount Olive on a workday afternoon, 34% 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.
From Mount Olive, about 19 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Mount Olive workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,785 commuters (the 6% 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.
Mount Olive’s commute, mile by mile
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.
Where Mount Olive’s workers come from
Where Mount Olive clocks in
7% 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.
Jobs in Mount Olive: what the 3,100 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Mount Olive, 2013 → 2023: 2,819 → 3,100. 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 Mount Olive’s own residents hold wherever they work.
In Mount Olive, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Mount Olive is more walkable than 63% of U.S. towns, #78 of 290 in North Carolina. Both inputs place Mount Olive near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,889 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). 10.6% of Mount Olive households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Mount Olive’s commuters take a bus or train.
Mount Olive next to U.S. towns of 3,200 to 6,100
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 83 | Jamestown NC | 3,803 | $105K | 2.5% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 182 | Fairview NC | 3,805 | $99K | 1.8% | 1.8% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 279 | Midland NC | 5,151 | $101K | 4.1% | 1.8% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,572 | Little Falls NY | 4,481 | $54K | 24.3% | 7.6% | 18% | D |
| 3,573 | Pittsburg TX | 4,676 | $44K | 24.7% | 6.6% | 19% | D |
| 3,574 | Mount Olive NC | 4,521 | $49K | 17.7% | 9.8% | 14% | D |
| 3,575 | Avenue B and C AZ | 4,001 | $44K | 19.7% | 19.9% | 1% | D |
| 3,576 | Moon Lake FL | 4,638 | $49K | 31.1% | 16.7% | 2% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 3,862 | 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 Mount Olive, 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 Mount Olive: questions
What is the median household income in Mount Olive?
$48,700 (±$5,490) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Mount Olive?
17.7%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Mount Olive?
19 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Mount Olive work?
14% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Goldsboro (12%, 13 mi), Raleigh (7%, 54 mi), Charlotte (3%, 156 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Mount Olive walkable?
Mount Olive is more walkable than 63% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 7.2 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Mount Olive without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Mount Olive, from the people who make the trip.
More of Mount Olive
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.