Sunnyside · Photo: Nicholas Oren Rawlings · CC BY-SA 3.0At 1.3%, unemployment in Wendell is lower than in 92% of U.S. towns
The two grades for Wendell are A for jobs and income and C− for walkability. Home is the office for 26% of workers, next to 16% for North Carolina as a whole. Only 4% work in Wendell; the top destination outside it is Raleigh (38%, 16 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Wendell in brief
Wendell has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Wendell went from 1,279 in 2013 to 2,297 in 2023, +80%. The jobs ↓
38% of Wendell works in Raleigh
2,320 working residents, 38%, have their main job in Raleigh, 17 miles away. That’s 10 times as many as work in Wendell itself. The commute map ↓
A lot of Wendell works from home
26% of Wendell workers work from home, against 16% across North Carolina. 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Wendell
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Wendell is better than 94% of U.S. towns, #10 of 290 in North Carolina. Unemployment is its strongest input; household income ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns ($95,787, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Wendell could be anywhere from A− to A+.
The 2,297 jobs based in Wendell
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Wendell, 2013 → 2023: 1,279 → 2,297. 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 Wendell’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where Wendell goes to work
Where Wendell clocks in
38% of workers
8% 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.
Each way, about 29 minutes from Wendell
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Wendell workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,467 commuters (the 26% 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.
Wendell quiets down on a workday
On a workday 5,821 residents head out to work, 243 work right here, and 2,054 people come in from elsewhere.
About 16,000 people are in Wendell on a workday afternoon, 19% fewer than live here.
0.38 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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 many miles Wendell commutes
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.
The commute in Wendell is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Wendell is more walkable than 19% of U.S. towns, #243 of 290 in North Carolina. 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 7,382 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 0.6 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 52% 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). 5.7% of Wendell households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Wendell’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Wendell ranks: 180th of 1,860 U.S. towns of 14,000 to 27,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ada Township MI | 14,769 | $168K | 2.0% | 0.7% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 31 | Weddington NC | 14,517 | $191K | 4.0% | 1.8% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 135 | Harrisburg NC | 20,742 | $148K | 3.7% | 3.0% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 178 | Denville Township NJ | 17,424 | $161K | 1.9% | 4.8% | 8% | A |
| 179 | Frankfort IL | 21,365 | $154K | 3.2% | 4.1% | 7% | A |
| 180 | Wendell NC | 19,687 | $96K | 3.2% | 1.3% | 4% | A |
| 181 | Lakeway TX | 19,027 | $190K | 2.5% | 3.5% | 9% | A |
| 182 | Millbury MA | 14,276 | $119K | 5.0% | 2.4% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 434 | Knightdale NC | 23,144 | $103K | 5.3% | 3.4% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,860 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Wendell, the top three, the last and three more from North Carolina.
Wendell and the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Zebulon (2%).
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Wendell’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 Wendell: questions
What is the median household income in Wendell?
$95,787 (±$17,543) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Wendell?
3.2%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Wendell?
29 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 26% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Wendell work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Raleigh (38%, 16 mi), Durham (8%, 33 mi), Cary (6%, 26 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Wendell walkable?
Wendell is more walkable than 19% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 6.6 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Wendell without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Wendell, from the people who make the trip.
More of Wendell
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.