Christ Episcopal Church · Photo: Nyttend · Public domainHouseholds in Walnut Cove earn less than those in 93% of U.S. towns
18.4% of residents are in poverty; North Carolina has 13.0%. Jobs and income earn Walnut Cove D; getting around on foot earns it C−. Working from home is the commute for 3% of workers; North Carolina has 16%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Walnut Cove, in brief
Few Walnut Cove 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 ↓
Walnut Cove has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Walnut Cove went from 598 in 2013 to 808 in 2023, +35%. 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; with 686 working residents, small shifts move the shares; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Walnut Cove
On income, poverty and job access, Walnut Cove is better than 13% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Walnut Cove’s grade up (ahead of 42% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($44,815, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (4.4%) is left out: Walnut Cove’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, Walnut Cove could be anywhere from D to C.
Time on the road from Walnut Cove: about 27 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Walnut Cove workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 823 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.
What work there is in Walnut Cove: 808 jobs
808 jobs are based in Walnut Cove.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Walnut Cove, 2013 → 2023: 598 → 808. 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 Walnut Cove’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily commute in and out of Walnut Cove
On a workday 651 residents head out to work, 35 work right here, and 773 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.
24% of working residents work in Winston-Salem
Where Walnut Cove clocks in
11% of workers
6% 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Walnut Cove
About 27% 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.
Few in Walnut Cove walk, bike or ride to work
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any 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 851 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). 10.5% of Walnut Cove households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Walnut Cove’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Walnut Cove ranks: 4,901st of 6,161 U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,200
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 73 | Governors Club NC | 1,787 | $236K | 0.0% | 8.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 100 | Biltmore Forest NC | 1,469 | $169K | 2.0% | 2.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 315 | Northlakes NC | 1,716 | $101K | 2.0% | 1.0% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,899 | Dryden NY | 1,820 | $50K | 18.2% | 3.7% | 7% | D |
| 4,900 | Addison NY | 1,541 | $56K | 17.8% | 8.5% | 14% | D |
| 4,901 | Walnut Cove NC | 1,609 | $45K | 18.4% | 4.4% | 5% | D |
| 4,902 | Graysville TN | 1,506 | $40K | 23.7% | 14.1% | <1% | D |
| 4,903 | Washington ME | 1,562 | $60K | 15.3% | 1.3% | 2% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 6,161 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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 Walnut Cove, 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 Walnut Cove: questions
What is the median household income in Walnut Cove?
$44,815 (±$15,986) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Walnut Cove?
18.4%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Walnut Cove?
27 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 Walnut Cove work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Winston-Salem (24%, 15 mi), Greensboro (11%, 22 mi), Charlotte (6%, 84 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Walnut Cove walkable?
Walnut Cove is more walkable than 16% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 6.3 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Walnut Cove without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Walnut Cove, from the people who make the trip.
More of Walnut Cove
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.