Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0Spindale’s household incomes are lower than in 95% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Spindale D−; getting around on foot earns it C+. Below the poverty line: 21.8% of residents, next to 13.0% for North Carolina as a whole. Only 6% work in Spindale; the top destination outside it is Forest City (11%, 3 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Spindale: the gist
Spindale trades workers with the towns around it
Spindale has about as many jobs (2,072) as working residents (1,760), but they are mostly different people: 1,656 residents leave for work each day while 1,968 people come in. Only 5% of the jobs in Spindale are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Spindale makes and builds things
47% of the jobs based in Spindale are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Spindale residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 24%. 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.
Where Spindale’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Spindale is better than 4% of U.S. towns, #280 of 290 in North Carolina. Job access by car holds Spindale’s grade up (ahead of 31% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (12.6%, U.S. 5.2%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Spindale could be anywhere from D− to C−.
Who leaves Spindale for work, and who comes in
On a workday 1,656 residents head out to work, 104 work right here, and 1,968 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.18 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.
Factories, building and farms: 47% of the jobs in Spindale
2,072 jobs are based in Spindale.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Spindale, 2013 → 2023: 2,134 → 2,072. 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 Spindale’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting out of Spindale: the destinations
Where Spindale clocks in
11% of workers
8% 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 25 minutes each way for Spindale’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Spindale workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,424 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.
The commute from Spindale, by distance
About 26% 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.
Driving is how Spindale gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Spindale is more walkable than 42% of U.S. towns, #153 of 290 in North Carolina. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.3% of 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 1,568 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). 4.4% of Spindale households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Spindale’s commuters take a bus or train.
Spindale next to U.S. towns of 2,900 to 5,600
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 87 | Jamestown NC | 3,803 | $105K | 2.5% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 188 | Fairview NC | 3,805 | $99K | 1.8% | 1.8% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 285 | Midland NC | 5,151 | $101K | 4.1% | 1.8% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,952 | Jonesboro LA | 4,252 | $42K | 35.1% | 6.4% | 23% | D− |
| 3,953 | Wallace NC | 3,570 | $51K | 30.4% | 8.7% | 10% | D− |
| 3,954 | Spindale NC | 4,180 | $41K | 21.8% | 12.6% | 6% | D− |
| 3,955 | Newcomerstown OH | 3,607 | $46K | 34.5% | 21.0% | 14% | D− |
| 3,956 | Onalaska TX | 3,289 | $52K | 23.7% | 9.4% | 5% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,112 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Spindale, the top three, the last and three more from North Carolina.
Bordering towns draw 19% of Spindale’s workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Spindale workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spindale | – | D− | C+ | 25 min | $41,262 |
| Rutherfordton | 8% | C− | C | 22 min | $59,375 |
| Forest City | 11% | D− | B+ | 26 min | $35,524 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Forest City. Darker towns draw more of Spindale’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 Spindale: questions
What is the median household income in Spindale?
$41,262 (±$5,636) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Spindale?
21.8%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Spindale?
25 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 Spindale work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Forest City (11%, 3 mi), Rutherfordton (8%, 2 mi), Charlotte (8%, 62 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Spindale walkable?
Spindale is more walkable than 42% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 8.2 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Spindale 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 Spindale, from the people who make the trip.
More of Spindale
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.