US Post Office · Photo: Jerrye & Roy Klotz, MD · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Wadesboro trail those of 94% of U.S. towns
27.4% of residents live below the poverty line, against 13.0% across North Carolina. Wadesboro grades D− for jobs and income and B− for walkability. About one in five work in Wadesboro; the top destination outside it is Charlotte (13%, 46 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Wadesboro, in brief
Wadesboro’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Wadesboro is Charlotte, 46 miles away as the crow flies. 13% of working residents (266) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Wadesboro workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 31 minutes each way, against 25 across North Carolina. Over a year that’s about 238 hours of commuting, 46 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.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Wadesboro
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Wadesboro is better than 5% of U.S. towns, #279 of 290 in North Carolina. Job access by car holds Wadesboro’s grade up (ahead of 22% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Wadesboro could be anywhere from D− to C.
The commute from Wadesboro, 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.
Getting to work from Wadesboro takes about 31 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Wadesboro workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,908 commuters (the 14% 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.
Wadesboro by day and by night
On a workday 1,730 residents head out to work, 380 work right here, and 2,317 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,600 people are in Wadesboro on a workday afternoon, 12% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.28 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.
Commuting out of Wadesboro: the destinations
Where Wadesboro clocks in
13% of workers
11% of workers
2% 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.
Inside Wadesboro’s 2,697 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Wadesboro, 2013 → 2023: 3,049 → 2,697. 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 Wadesboro’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Wadesboro is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Wadesboro is more walkable than 52% of U.S. towns, #110 of 290 in North Carolina. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.3% 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 2,214 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). 13.5% of Wadesboro households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Wadesboro’s commuters take a bus or train.
Wadesboro next to U.S. towns of 3,500 to 6,800
| # | 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 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 87 | Jamestown NC | 3,803 | $105K | 2.5% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 195 | Fairview NC | 3,805 | $99K | 1.8% | 1.8% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 294 | Midland NC | 5,151 | $101K | 4.1% | 1.8% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,627 | Hearne TX | 4,719 | $37K | 27.3% | 15.3% | 18% | D− |
| 3,628 | Lewistown MT | 6,179 | $49K | 20.9% | 7.0% | 52% | D− |
| 3,629 | Wadesboro NC | 5,035 | $43K | 27.4% | 7.0% | 18% | D− |
| 3,630 | Mahanoy City PA | 3,539 | $38K | 35.9% | 13.3% | 6% | D− |
| 3,631 | Newport VT | 4,274 | $55K | 23.0% | 9.1% | 37% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,758 | 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 Wadesboro, 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 Wadesboro: questions
What is the median household income in Wadesboro?
$42,667 (±$16,242) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Wadesboro?
27.4%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Wadesboro?
31 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Wadesboro work?
18% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Charlotte (13%, 46 mi), Monroe (11%, 28 mi), Polkton (2%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Wadesboro walkable?
Wadesboro is more walkable than 52% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 8.1 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Wadesboro without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 14% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Wadesboro, from the people who make the trip.
More of Wadesboro
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.