Households in Spring Hope earn less than those in 97% of U.S. towns
Poverty touches 11.1% of residents (North Carolina 13.0%). For jobs and income Spring Hope is better than 18% of U.S. towns (C−); for walkability it is more walkable than 62% of U.S. towns (B). Only 4% stay in Spring Hope for work; outside it, Rocky Mount is the main destination (12%, 17 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Spring Hope
Fewer jobs are based in Spring Hope than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Spring Hope fell from 568 in 2013 to 427 in 2023, −25%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
Spring Hope workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 30 minutes each way, against 25 across North Carolina. Over a year that’s about 230 hours of commuting, 38 more than the state’s typical worker. 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 435 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How Spring Hope earns its Jobs & income grade
The poverty rate holds Spring Hope’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($38,393, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (2.3%) is left out: Spring Hope’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, Spring Hope could be anywhere from D to C.
The 427 jobs based in Spring Hope
427 jobs are based in Spring Hope.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Spring Hope, 2013 → 2023: 568 → 427. 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 Spring Hope’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 30 minutes from Spring Hope
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Spring Hope workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 565 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.
Spring Hope on a workday afternoon
On a workday 418 residents head out to work, 17 work right here, and 410 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 (0.98 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 people from Spring Hope work
Where Spring Hope clocks in
12% of workers
9% 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.
Where in the region Spring Hope works
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 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Most of Spring Hope commutes by car
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 5.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 2.9% across North Carolina, on an EPA index of 6.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 621 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 9.6% of Spring Hope households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Spring Hope’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Spring Hope is 4,226th among 5,877 U.S. towns of 1,000 to 1,900
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 69 | Governors Club NC | 1,787 | $236K | 0.0% | 8.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 88 | Biltmore Forest NC | 1,469 | $169K | 2.0% | 2.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 267 | Northlakes NC | 1,716 | $101K | 2.0% | 1.0% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,224 | Breckenridge MI | 1,265 | $58K | 18.0% | 7.5% | 8% | C− |
| 4,225 | Thompson Falls MT | 1,543 | $46K | 6.5% | 0.0% | 25% | C− |
| 4,226 | Spring Hope NC | 1,383 | $38K | 11.1% | 2.3% | 4% | C− |
| 4,227 | South Charleston OH | 1,698 | $50K | 16.3% | 1.9% | 9% | C− |
| 4,228 | Norman Township MI | 1,569 | $64K | 10.4% | 10.5% | 12% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,877 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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 Spring Hope, 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 Spring Hope: questions
What is the median household income in Spring Hope?
$38,393 (±$14,440) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Spring Hope?
11.1%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Spring Hope?
30 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 Spring Hope work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Rocky Mount (12%, 17 mi), Raleigh (9%, 31 mi), Wilson (8%, 18 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Spring Hope walkable?
Spring Hope is more walkable than 62% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 6.3 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Spring Hope without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Spring Hope, from the people who make the trip.
More of Spring Hope
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.