Wallace has higher unemployment (8.7%) than 91% of U.S. towns
7% of workers have no commute at all, next to 16% for North Carolina as a whole. Jobs and income earn Wallace D−; getting around on foot earns it B+. Household incomes here are lower than in 86% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Wallace
Wallace is where the jobs are
Wallace has 1,926 jobs, 1.5 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Wallace are quick
The average trip to work takes 18 minutes, against 25 across North Carolina. That’s about 54 hours a year less on the road than the typical North Carolina worker. Time on the road ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Wallace
47% of Wallace residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 28% of the jobs based in Wallace pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 90% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
A big share show a job far from home
34% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
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 Wallace’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Wallace is better than 4% of U.S. towns, #281 of 290 in North Carolina. Job access by car holds Wallace’s grade up (ahead of 23% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (30.4%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Wallace could be anywhere from D− to C+.
Who commutes out of Wallace, and who commutes in
On a workday 1,124 residents head out to work, 126 work right here, and 1,800 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,200 people are in Wallace on a workday afternoon, 19% more than live here.
1.5 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.
How long Wallace spends getting to work: about 18 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Wallace workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,329 commuters (the 7% 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.
What Wallace’s employers do
1,926 jobs are based in Wallace.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Wallace, 2013 → 2023: 1,849 → 1,926. 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 Wallace’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Near or far: the trip to work from Wallace
About 34% 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.
Who travels to work in Wallace, and from where
Where Wallace clocks in
5% 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.
In Wallace, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Wallace is more walkable than 67% of U.S. towns, #67 of 290 in North Carolina. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.4% 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 1,431 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). 7.1% of Wallace households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Wallace’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 2,500 to 4,800, and where Wallace sits
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 90 | Jamestown NC | 3,803 | $105K | 2.5% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 130 | Avery Creek NC | 2,887 | $113K | 1.4% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 196 | Fairview NC | 3,805 | $99K | 1.8% | 1.8% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,171 | Bellaire OH | 3,738 | $38K | 31.8% | 8.7% | 10% | D− |
| 4,172 | Jonesboro LA | 4,252 | $42K | 35.1% | 6.4% | 23% | D− |
| 4,173 | Wallace NC | 3,570 | $51K | 30.4% | 8.7% | 10% | D− |
| 4,174 | Spindale NC | 4,180 | $41K | 21.8% | 12.6% | 6% | D− |
| 4,175 | Newcomerstown OH | 3,607 | $46K | 34.5% | 21.0% | 14% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,355 | 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 Wallace, 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 Wallace: questions
What is the median household income in Wallace?
$51,250 (±$13,039) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Wallace?
30.4%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Wallace?
18 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Wallace work?
10% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Raleigh (5%, 84 mi), Burgaw (4%, 13 mi), Kenansville (4%, 15 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Wallace walkable?
Wallace is more walkable than 67% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.5 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Wallace 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 Wallace, from the people who make the trip.
More of Wallace
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.