Bellamy's Mill · Photo: Surfdog1993 · CC BY-SA 3.0Most of Whitakers commutes out: there are 0.3 jobs for every working resident
A typical one-way commute lasts 32 minutes, where North Carolina has 25 and the U.S. 26. Employers in Whitakers report 89 jobs for 287 working residents. Hardly any work in Whitakers; the top destination outside it is Rocky Mount (31%, 11 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Whitakers apart on work
Fewer jobs are based in Whitakers than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Whitakers fell from 1,327 in 2013 to 89 in 2023, −93%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
Whitakers and Rocky Mount trade workers both ways
Rocky Mount is the top workplace for Whitakers residents (31%) and also where the most people who work in Whitakers come from (21% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
A big share show a job far from home
30% 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; with 287 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
33% of the jobs in Whitakers make or build things
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Whitakers, 2013 → 2023: 1,327 → 89. 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 Whitakers’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where Whitakers’ working residents head each day
Where Whitakers clocks in
31% of workers
8% 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.
The distance from Whitakers to work
About 30% 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.
A workday in Whitakers: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 287 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 89 people come in from elsewhere.
About 450 people are in Whitakers on a workday afternoon, 31% fewer than live here.
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 Whitakers spends getting to work: about 32 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Whitakers workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 217 commuters (the 13% 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 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 Whitakers: questions
What is the median household income in Whitakers?
$48,869 (±$17,435) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Whitakers?
10.5%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Whitakers?
32 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Whitakers work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Rocky Mount (31%, 11 mi), Raleigh (8%, 55 mi), Tarboro (6%, 16 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Whitakers 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 Whitakers, from the people who make the trip.
More of Whitakers
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.