Photo: Tradewinds · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in New Bern are lower than in 72% of U.S. towns
About two in five stay in New Bern for work; outside it, James City is the main destination (4%, 5 miles). 17.3% of residents are in poverty; North Carolina has 13.0%. Jobs and income earn New Bern C; getting around on foot earns it B.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where New Bern stands out on work
New Bern is where the jobs are
New Bern has 19,986 jobs, 1.7 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Commutes from New Bern 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 ↓
New Bern draws workers from far and wide
The 19,986 jobs in New Bern are filled from a wide area. New Bern’s own residents hold 24% and the ten next-biggest home towns 21%; the other 55% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
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 drives the Jobs & income grade in New Bern
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, New Bern is better than 28% of U.S. towns, #198 of 290 in North Carolina. Job access by car holds New Bern’s grade up (ahead of 45% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, New Bern could be anywhere from C− to C+.
A workday in New Bern: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 7,213 residents head out to work, 4,852 work right here, and 15,134 people come in from elsewhere.
About 43,000 people are in New Bern on a workday afternoon, 23% 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.
About 19 minutes each way, quicker than most of North Carolina
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of New Bern workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 13,304 commuters (the 9% 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.
The daily trip into New Bern
Where New Bern clocks in
4% 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.
What New Bern’s employers do
19,986 jobs are based in New Bern.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in New Bern, 2013 → 2023: 17,514 → 19,986. 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 New Bern’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Near or far: the trip to work from New Bern
About 24% 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 New Bern is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, New Bern is more walkable than 59% of U.S. towns, #91 of 290 in North Carolina. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.0% 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 14,587 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). 12.1% of New Bern households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of New Bern’s commuters take a bus or train.
How New Bern ranks: 1,120th of 1,287 U.S. towns of 24,000 to 47,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 61 | Matthews NC | 32,769 | $109K | 3.7% | 2.1% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 102 | Morrisville NC | 32,466 | $125K | 3.1% | 3.3% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 148 | Cornelius NC | 35,094 | $114K | 5.4% | 2.4% | 10% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,118 | Ottumwa IA | 25,319 | $61K | 17.2% | 4.6% | 49% | C |
| 1,119 | Mesquite NV | 24,001 | $75K | 10.6% | 5.7% | 55% | C |
| 1,120 | New Bern NC | 34,724 | $61K | 17.3% | 4.6% | 40% | C |
| 1,121 | Xenia OH | 26,425 | $56K | 17.9% | 6.2% | 15% | C |
| 1,122 | Cookeville TN | 38,212 | $51K | 23.5% | 3.8% | 49% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 1,287 | 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 New Bern, the top three, the last and three more from North Carolina.
How New Bern compares with the towns next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | New Bern workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Bern | – | C | B | 19 min | $61,031 |
| Trent Woods | 1% | A− | C− | 17 min | $107,802 |
| James City | 4% | C+ | B− | 22 min | $58,973 |
| Brices Creek | under 2% | A− | D | 21 min | $85,723 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to James City. Darker towns draw more of New Bern’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 New Bern: questions
What is the median household income in New Bern?
$61,031 (±$4,313) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in New Bern?
17.3%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from New Bern?
19 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in New Bern work?
40% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are James City (4%, 5 mi), Greenville (4%, 39 mi), Raleigh (3%, 102 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is New Bern walkable?
New Bern is more walkable than 59% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 8.0 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around New Bern without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from New Bern, from the people who make the trip.
More of New Bern
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.