Photo: Harrison Keely · CC BY 4.0Household incomes in Murphy trail those of 97% of U.S. towns
Below the poverty line: 17.5% of residents, next to 13.0% for North Carolina as a whole. For jobs and income Murphy is better than 4% of U.S. towns (D−); for walkability it is more walkable than 93% of U.S. towns (A). Working from home is the commute for 3% of workers, next to 16% for North Carolina as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Murphy, in brief
Murphy has far more jobs than workers
Murphy has 2,391 jobs, 3.5 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 3,500 people are in town, 95% more than the 1,800 who live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Murphy are quick
The average trip to work takes 14 minutes, against 25 across North Carolina. That’s about 84 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
34% 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; with 677 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The four measures behind Murphy’s grade
The poverty rate holds Murphy’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($37,263, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (5.6%) is left out: Murphy’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, Murphy could be anywhere from D− to D.
A workday in Murphy: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 537 residents head out to work, 140 work right here, and 2,251 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,500 people are in Murphy on a workday afternoon, 95% more than live here.
3.5 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 Murphy, about 14 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Murphy workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 652 commuters (the 3% 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.
Where in the region Murphy works
About 34% 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.
Commuting in to Murphy: where workers come from
Where Murphy clocks in
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.
The 2,391 jobs based in Murphy
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Murphy, 2013 → 2023: 2,517 → 2,391. 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 Murphy’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Murphy is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 19.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 2.9% across North Carolina, on an EPA index of 9.1.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 670 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). 15.7% of Murphy households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Murphy’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Murphy compares with U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 64 | Governors Club NC | 1,787 | $236K | 0.0% | 8.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 94 | Biltmore Forest NC | 1,469 | $169K | 2.0% | 2.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 153 | Wrightsville Beach NC | 2,397 | $152K | 4.0% | 0.4% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,950 | Hill City KS | 1,376 | $49K | 16.7% | 6.7% | 36% | D− |
| 4,951 | Fulton KY | 2,252 | $36K | 30.8% | 2.0% | 21% | D− |
| 4,952 | Murphy NC | 1,808 | $37K | 17.5% | 5.6% | 21% | D− |
| 4,953 | McArthur OH | 1,764 | $49K | 26.7% | 4.8% | 12% | D− |
| 4,954 | Piketon OH | 2,201 | $41K | 30.1% | 10.0% | 9% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,343 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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 Murphy, 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 Murphy: questions
What is the median household income in Murphy?
$37,263 (±$13,177) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Murphy?
17.5%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Murphy?
14 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Murphy work?
21% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Cherokee (4%, 49 mi), Asheville (4%, 89 mi), Andrews (3%, 13 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Murphy walkable?
Murphy is more walkable than 93% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 9.1 out of 20, and 19% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Murphy without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 16% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Murphy, from the people who make the trip.
More of Murphy
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.