Rockingham County Courthouse · Public domainRockingham has lower household incomes than 97% of U.S. towns
Rockingham grades D− for jobs and income and B− for walkability. Poverty touches 30.6% of residents; North Carolina has 13.0%. At home: 1% of workers have no commute at all (North Carolina 16%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Rockingham, in brief
No single place dominates Rockingham’s commute
The biggest draw, Hamlet, gets only 6% of working residents, and 53% work outside the top ten towns entirely. Rockingham residents fan out across the region. The commute map ↓
Rockingham draws workers from far and wide
The 5,874 jobs in Rockingham are filled from a wide area. Rockingham’s own residents hold 12% and the ten next-biggest home towns 20%; the other 68% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Rockingham is where the jobs are
Rockingham has 5,874 jobs, 1.6 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Few Rockingham workers work from home
Only 1% 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.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Rockingham
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Rockingham is better than 4% of U.S. towns, #283 of 290 in North Carolina. Job access by car holds Rockingham’s grade up (ahead of 36% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($37,224, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Rockingham could be anywhere from D− to D.
Where the people who work in Rockingham live
Where Rockingham 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.
The daily flow of workers through Rockingham
On a workday 2,894 residents head out to work, 723 work right here, and 5,151 people come in from elsewhere.
About 11,000 people are in Rockingham on a workday afternoon, 26% more than live here.
1.6 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.
A commute of about 24 minutes in Rockingham
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Rockingham workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,249 commuters (the 1% 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 5,874 jobs based in Rockingham
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Rockingham, 2013 → 2023: 5,324 → 5,874. 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 Rockingham’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Short hops and long hauls from Rockingham
About 31% 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 Rockingham, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Rockingham is more walkable than 52% of U.S. towns, #109 of 290 in North Carolina. Both inputs place Rockingham 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 3,296 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). 13.0% of Rockingham households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Rockingham’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 6,200 to 11,900, and where Rockingham sits
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 3 | Pimmit Hills VA | 6,589 | $173K | 1.6% | 1.3% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 196 | Oak Ridge NC | 7,896 | $155K | 3.6% | 2.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 365 | Summerfield NC | 11,327 | $160K | 7.1% | 2.1% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 372 | Ogden NC | 8,249 | $121K | 4.8% | 1.4% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,845 | Eidson Road TX | 9,684 | $34K | 24.6% | 14.5% | 7% | D− |
| 2,846 | Bastrop LA | 8,908 | $33K | 40.1% | 15.1% | 27% | D− |
| 2,847 | Rockingham NC | 8,815 | $37K | 30.6% | 11.3% | 20% | D− |
| 2,848 | Laughlin NV | 8,789 | $46K | 22.1% | 7.1% | 45% | D− |
| 2,849 | Osceola AR | 6,450 | $46K | 26.2% | 10.5% | 31% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,878 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Rockingham, the top three, the last and three more from North Carolina.
How Rockingham compares with the towns next door
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Rockingham workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rockingham | – | D− | B− | 24 min | $37,224 |
| East Rockingham | under 2% | C− | D | 36 min | $34,355 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Rockingham’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 Rockingham: questions
What is the median household income in Rockingham?
$37,224 (±$9,361) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Rockingham?
30.6%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Rockingham?
24 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Rockingham work?
20% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Hamlet (6%, 4 mi), Pinehurst (4%, 24 mi), Charlotte (3%, 63 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Rockingham walkable?
Rockingham is more walkable than 52% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.3 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Rockingham without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 13% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Rockingham, from the people who make the trip.
More of Rockingham
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.