Photo: DiscoA340 · CC BY-SA 4.0Polkton’s household incomes are lower than in 91% of U.S. towns
Polkton grades D− for jobs and income and D− for walkability. Poverty touches 30.4% of residents, where North Carolina as a whole has 13.0%. For 5% of workers, the job is at home, where North Carolina as a whole has 16%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Polkton, in a few figures
Polkton’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Polkton is Charlotte, 39 miles away as the crow flies. 16% of working residents (104) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
A big share show a job far from home
37% 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 ↓
The jobs in Polkton pay better than its residents’ jobs
69% of the jobs based in Polkton pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), against 49% of the jobs Polkton residents hold. 99% of the jobs here are held by people who live outside Polkton. The jobs ↓
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 659 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Jobs & income in Polkton: the grade in detail
On income, poverty and job access, Polkton is better than 3% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Polkton’s grade.
Unemployment (2.5%) is left out: Polkton’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, Polkton could be anywhere from D− to D.
Polkton’s commute, mile by mile
About 37% 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.
A place that makes things: 30% of Polkton’s jobs are in goods
863 jobs are based in Polkton.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Polkton, 2013 → 2023: 289 → 863. 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 Polkton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Polkton fills up on a workday
On a workday 649 residents head out to work, 10 work right here, and 853 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,900 people are in Polkton on a workday afternoon, 12% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.31 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Where Polkton’s working residents head each day
Where Polkton clocks in
16% of workers
8% 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.
About 31 minutes to work from Polkton
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Polkton workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 434 commuters (the 5% 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.
Few in Polkton walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Polkton is more walkable than 3% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Polkton 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 455 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). 12.0% of Polkton households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Polkton’s commuters take a bus or train.
Polkton next to U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,300
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 67 | Governors Club NC | 1,787 | $236K | 0.0% | 8.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 95 | Biltmore Forest NC | 1,469 | $169K | 2.0% | 2.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 305 | Northlakes NC | 1,716 | $101K | 2.0% | 1.0% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 5,441 | Lexington MS | 1,395 | $48K | 22.7% | 7.5% | 10% | D− |
| 5,442 | Dixon MO | 1,222 | $50K | 22.2% | 3.7% | 17% | D− |
| 5,443 | Polkton NC | 1,722 | $47K | 30.4% | 2.5% | 2% | D− |
| 5,444 | Beverly OH | 1,200 | $46K | 25.0% | 1.5% | 9% | D− |
| 5,445 | Stratford OK | 1,437 | $41K | 26.5% | 7.1% | 10% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,760 | 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 Polkton, 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 Polkton: questions
What is the median household income in Polkton?
$47,059 (±$15,411) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Polkton?
30.4%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Polkton?
31 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Polkton work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Charlotte (16%, 39 mi), Monroe (8%, 20 mi), Wadesboro (6%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Polkton walkable?
Polkton is more walkable than 3% of U.S. towns (Walkability D−): an EPA walkability index of 4.0 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Polkton without a car?
0% 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 Polkton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Polkton
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.