Photo: Townofspringlake · CC BY-SA 4.0Spring Lake’s household incomes are lower than in 85% of U.S. towns
3% of workers work from home; North Carolina has 16%. The poverty rate is 17.7%, next to 13.0% for North Carolina as a whole. For jobs and income Spring Lake is better than 25% of U.S. towns (C−); for walkability it is more walkable than 77% of U.S. towns (A−).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Spring Lake stands out on work
Spring Lake trades workers with the towns around it
Spring Lake has about as many jobs (2,735) as working residents (2,783), but they are mostly different people: 2,606 residents leave for work each day while 2,558 people come in. Only 6% of the jobs in Spring Lake are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Spring Lake and Fayetteville trade workers both ways
Fayetteville is the top workplace for Spring Lake residents (28%) and also where the most people who work in Spring Lake come from (23% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Fewer than half of Spring Lake workers earn over $40,000 a year
38% of Spring Lake’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 21% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
Few Spring Lake workers work from home
Only 3% of workers work from home, against 16% across North Carolina. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
Commutes from Spring Lake are quick
The average trip to work takes 19 minutes, against 25 across North Carolina. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical North Carolina 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.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Spring Lake
Job access by car holds Spring Lake’s grade up (ahead of 62% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($51,958, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Spring Lake could be anywhere from D to C+.
The daily commute in and out of Spring Lake
On a workday 2,606 residents head out to work, 177 work right here, and 2,558 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.
28% of working residents work in Fayetteville
Where Spring Lake clocks in
28% of workers
5% 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.
Jobs in Spring Lake: what the 2,735 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Spring Lake, 2013 → 2023: 2,987 → 2,735. 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 Lake’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Spring Lake: about 19 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Spring Lake workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,622 commuters (the 3% 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Spring Lake
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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Spring Lake
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 8.9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 2.9% across North Carolina, on an EPA index of 7.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 5,814 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). 6.6% of Spring Lake households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Spring Lake’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Spring Lake ranks: 2,063rd of 2,507 U.S. towns of 8,000 to 15,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 56 | Weddington NC | 14,517 | $191K | 4.0% | 1.8% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 270 | Rolesville NC | 12,839 | $150K | 1.1% | 3.7% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 343 | Summerfield NC | 11,327 | $160K | 7.1% | 2.1% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,061 | Skowhegan ME | 8,676 | $49K | 14.2% | 3.7% | 30% | C− |
| 2,062 | Madison IN | 12,304 | $61K | 14.9% | 5.2% | 39% | C− |
| 2,063 | Spring Lake NC | 11,252 | $52K | 17.7% | 5.4% | 6% | C− |
| 2,064 | Vienna Township IN | 10,849 | $53K | 20.4% | 5.0% | 23% | C− |
| 2,065 | Arizona City AZ | 9,543 | $66K | 12.6% | 4.4% | 2% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,507 | Roma TX | 11,543 | $25K | 37.1% | 12.4% | 22% | 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 Lake, the top three, the last and three more from North Carolina.
Work next door: 28% of Spring Lake’s workers
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Spring Lake workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spring Lake | – | C− | A− | 19 min | $51,958 |
| Fayetteville | 28% | C− | A− | 19 min | $58,407 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Fayetteville. Darker towns draw more of Spring Lake’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 Spring Lake: questions
What is the median household income in Spring Lake?
$51,958 (±$6,554) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Spring Lake?
17.7%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Spring Lake?
19 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Spring Lake work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Fayetteville (28%, 7 mi), Raleigh (5%, 49 mi), Charlotte (3%, 104 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Spring Lake walkable?
Spring Lake is more walkable than 77% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.0 out of 20, and 9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Spring Lake without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Spring Lake, from the people who make the trip.
More of Spring Lake
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.