With 0.1 jobs for every working resident, most of Mountain View works elsewhere
Working from home is the commute for 4% of workers; North Carolina has 16%. There are 141 jobs in Mountain View; 1,617 of its residents have a job. Jobs and income earn Mountain View C+; getting around on foot earns it C−.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Mountain View: the figures worth knowing
Fewer jobs are based in Mountain View than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Mountain View fell from 305 in 2013 to 141 in 2023, −54%. 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 ↓
Mountain View is a place people come home to
There are 141 jobs based in Mountain View, about one for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Mountain View has about 2,500 people in it, 37% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Mountain View and Hickory trade workers both ways
Hickory is the top workplace for Mountain View residents (29%) and also where the most people who work in Mountain View come from (14% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Few Mountain View workers work from home
Only 4% of workers work from home, against 16% across North Carolina. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
Commutes from Mountain View 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 ↓
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 Mountain View’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Mountain View is better than 39% of U.S. towns, #164 of 290 in North Carolina. Job access by car holds Mountain View’s grade up (ahead of 59% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (20.4%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on unemployment.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Mountain View could be anywhere from C− to A−.
Jobs in Mountain View: what the 141 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Mountain View, 2013 → 2023: 305 → 141. 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 Mountain View’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who leaves Mountain View for work, and who comes in
On a workday 1,612 residents head out to work, 5 work right here, and 136 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,500 people are in Mountain View on a workday afternoon, 37% 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.
29% of working residents work in Hickory
Where Mountain View clocks in
29% of workers
8% 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.
From Mountain View, 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 Mountain View workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,738 commuters (the 4% 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.
Half of Mountain View commutes less than 10 miles
About 16% 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.
The commute in Mountain View is mostly behind the wheel
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 1,809 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). 7.5% of Mountain View households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Mountain View’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Mountain View is 2,625th of 4,177 U.S. towns of 2,800 to 5,400
| # | 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 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 88 | Jamestown NC | 3,803 | $105K | 2.5% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 131 | Avery Creek NC | 2,887 | $113K | 1.4% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 191 | Fairview NC | 3,805 | $99K | 1.8% | 1.8% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,623 | South Huntingdon Township PA | 5,303 | $71K | 9.4% | 9.7% | 7% | C+ |
| 2,624 | Hawaiian Acres HI | 3,872 | $91K | 23.6% | 2.0% | <1% | C+ |
| 2,625 | Mountain View NC | 3,982 | $72K | 20.4% | 4.1% | <1% | C+ |
| 2,626 | Oglesby IL | 3,618 | $76K | 9.6% | 6.6% | 10% | C+ |
| 2,627 | Tomahawk WI | 3,387 | $60K | 12.5% | 1.5% | 26% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,177 | 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 Mountain View, the top three, the last and three more from North Carolina.
Next door is work for 31% of Mountain View
The biggest share goes to Hickory (29%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Mountain View workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mountain View | – | C+ | C− | 19 min | $71,792 |
| Hickory | 29% | C+ | B | 21 min | $64,576 |
| Brookford | under 2% | — | — | 23 min | — |
| Long View | 2% | B− | C+ | 24 min | $46,739 |
Same-state neighbors only. Brookford: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Mountain View’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 Mountain View: questions
What is the median household income in Mountain View?
$71,792 (±$13,841) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Mountain View?
20.4%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Mountain View?
19 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Mountain View work?
<1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Hickory (29%, 4 mi), Charlotte (8%, 45 mi), Newton (6%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Mountain View walkable?
Mountain View 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 Mountain View without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Mountain View, from the people who make the trip.
More of Mountain View
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.