Photo: TownofPembrokeNC · CC BY-SA 4.0Few U.S. towns have family incomes as low as Pembroke’s
Measured by family income, Pembroke is among the lowest-earning towns in the country. Without college students, the poverty rate is 35.1%, against 12.4% across North Carolina. Pembroke grades D 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
Work in Pembroke, in a few figures
Pembroke has far more jobs than workers
Pembroke has 2,371 jobs, 3.6 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 4,600 people are in town, 59% more than the 2,900 who live here. Day and night ↓
A big share show a job far from home
32% 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 ↓
Commutes from Pembroke are quick
The average trip to work takes 20 minutes, against 25 across North Carolina. That’s about 38 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; with 658 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Pembroke
On family income, poverty and job access, Pembroke is better than 7% of U.S. towns, #270 of 290 in North Carolina. Job access by car holds Pembroke’s grade up (ahead of 43% of U.S. towns); family income pulls it down ($40,556, U.S. $99,999).
19% of Pembroke’s residents are college students, and off-campus students count in the Census poverty figures. Where students are 15% or more of the people the Census checks for poverty (16% here), the grade uses the rate without them: 35.1%, against 39.1% for all residents. Unemployment (3.9%) is left out here: students looking for part-time work count as unemployed. Income is ranked as median family income ($40,556), since student households pull the household median down ($25,889).
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for family income and poverty, Pembroke stays D.
Who works in Pembroke, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 574 residents head out to work, 84 work right here, and 2,287 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,600 people are in Pembroke on a workday afternoon, 59% more than live here.
3.6 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.
How far Pembroke goes to work
About 32% 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.
About 20 minutes to work from Pembroke
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Pembroke workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 769 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.
Where the people who work in Pembroke live
Where Pembroke clocks in
5% of workers
4% 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 Pembroke’s employers do
2,371 jobs are based in Pembroke.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Pembroke, 2013 → 2023: 2,252 → 2,371. 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 Pembroke’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting around Pembroke: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Pembroke is more walkable than 39% of U.S. towns, #164 of 290 in North Carolina. 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 844 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). 16.2% of Pembroke households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Pembroke’s commuters take a bus or train.
Pembroke next to U.S. towns of 2,000 to 3,900
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 84 | Jamestown NC | 3,803 | $105K | 2.5% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 118 | Avery Creek NC | 2,887 | $113K | 1.4% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 174 | Wrightsville Beach NC | 2,397 | $152K | 4.0% | 0.4% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,506 | Hoopa CA | 2,233 | $65K | 21.5% | 11.7% | 66% | D |
| 4,507 | Hoisington KS | 2,598 | $52K | 16.5% | 8.8% | 29% | D |
| 4,508 | Pembroke NC | 2,888 | $26K | 39.1% | 3.9% | 13% | D |
| 4,509 | Kualapuu HI | 2,535 | $63K | 19.8% | 7.2% | 8% | D |
| 4,510 | Ozark AR | 3,628 | $48K | 17.8% | 13.0% | 30% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,882 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 12% | 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 Pembroke, 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.
- Students. 19% of residents are college students; the poverty input leaves off-campus students out (above).
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Pembroke: questions
What is the median household income in Pembroke?
$25,889 (±$2,672) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Pembroke?
39.1% of residents live below the poverty line; leaving out college students, 35.1%. North Carolina: 13.0%.
How long is the commute from Pembroke?
20 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 Pembroke work?
13% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lumberton (19%, 10 mi), Fayetteville (5%, 31 mi), Raleigh (4%, 86 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Pembroke walkable?
Pembroke is more walkable than 39% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 8.7 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Pembroke 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 Pembroke, from the people who make the trip.
More of Pembroke
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.