Plain View has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.2 for each
Plain View has 183 jobs for 809 working residents. The two grades for Plain View are C− for jobs and income and D for walkability. Household incomes here are lower than in 83% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Plain View: the gist
Plain View is a place people come home to
There are 183 jobs based in Plain View, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Plain View has about 1,100 people in it, 36% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Plain View workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 35 minutes each way, against 25 across North Carolina. Over a year that’s about 268 hours of commuting, 77 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
Few Plain 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 ↓
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 809 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How Plain View earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Plain View is better than 23% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Plain View’s grade up (10.5%, U.S. 12.5%); household income pulls it down ($53,636, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (16.4%) is left out: Plain View’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Plain View could be anywhere from D to B+.
Plain View on a workday afternoon
On a workday 790 residents head out to work, 19 work right here, and 164 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,100 people are in Plain View on a workday afternoon, 36% 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.
Plain View’s commute takes about 35 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Plain View workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 609 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.
12% of working residents work in Dunn
Where Plain View clocks in
12% of workers
6% of workers
5% 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.
Plain View makes things: 39% of its jobs are in goods
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Plain View, 2013 → 2023: 211 → 183. 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 Plain View’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Half of Plain View commutes less than 23 miles
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.
In Plain View, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Plain View is more walkable than 7% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Plain View 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 632 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). 4.1% of Plain View households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Plain View’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,400, Plain View ranks 4,100th of 6,085 on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 68 | Governors Club NC | 1,787 | $236K | 0.0% | 8.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 99 | Biltmore Forest NC | 1,469 | $169K | 2.0% | 2.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 161 | Wrightsville Beach NC | 2,397 | $152K | 4.0% | 0.4% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,098 | Rodney Village DE | 1,331 | $44K | 16.2% | 3.3% | 1% | C− |
| 4,099 | Pine Island Center FL | 1,834 | $68K | 12.3% | 4.0% | 3% | C− |
| 4,100 | Plain View NC | 1,741 | $54K | 10.5% | 16.4% | 2% | C− |
| 4,101 | Wilmerding PA | 1,700 | $36K | 29.8% | 12.7% | 2% | C− |
| 4,102 | Elwood Township IL | 1,383 | $54K | 8.3% | 7.0% | 6% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 6,085 | 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 Plain View, 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 Plain View: questions
What is the median household income in Plain View?
$53,636 (±$38,265) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Plain View?
10.5%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Plain View?
35 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 Plain View work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Dunn (12%, 6 mi), Fayetteville (6%, 26 mi), Raleigh (5%, 41 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Plain View walkable?
Plain View is more walkable than 7% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 4.9 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Plain View without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Plain View, from the people who make the trip.
More of Plain 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.