Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0Most of Polkville commutes out: there are 0.2 jobs for every working resident
4% of workers have no commute at all, against 16% across North Carolina. 48 jobs are based in Polkville, and 210 of its residents work somewhere. Hardly any work in Polkville itself; outside it, Shelby draws the most (19%, 10 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Polkville, in brief
Polkville is a place people come home to
There are 48 jobs based in Polkville, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Polkville has about 350 people in it, 31% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Few Polkville 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 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 210 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The daily commute in and out of Polkville
On a workday 209 residents head out to work, 1 work right here, and 47 people come in from elsewhere.
About 350 people are in Polkville on a workday afternoon, 31% 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 2024, primary jobs.
About 25 minutes each way, about the NC average
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Polkville workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 283 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.
Where Polkville’s working residents head each day
Where Polkville clocks in
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.
What Polkville’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Polkville, 2014 → 2024: 47 → 48. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Polkville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The distance from Polkville to work
About 18% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2024, 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 Polkville: questions
What is the median household income in Polkville?
$74,688 (±$20,471) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Polkville?
10.1%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Polkville?
25 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 Polkville work?
<1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Shelby (19%, 10 mi), Kings Mountain (6%, 21 mi), Charlotte (5%, 48 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Can you get around Polkville without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Polkville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Polkville
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.