Photo: Camb.g2g · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes in Williamston trail those of 97% of U.S. towns
Williamston grades D− for jobs and income and A− for walkability. 36.3% of residents live below the poverty line; North Carolina has 13.0%. 7% of workers work from home, next to 16% for North Carolina as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Williamston: the figures worth knowing
Williamston is where the jobs are
Williamston has 3,203 jobs, 1.6 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Fewer than half of Williamston workers earn over $40,000 a year
37% of Williamston’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 20% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
Williamston’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Williamston is Greenville, 25 miles away as the crow flies. 10% of working residents (200) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Commutes from Williamston are quick
The average trip to work takes 20 minutes, against 25 across North Carolina. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical North Carolina worker. Time on the road ↓
Many jobs in Williamston pay little
26% of the jobs based in Williamston pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. 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.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Williamston
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Williamston is better than 2% of U.S. towns, #286 of 290 in North Carolina. Job access by car holds Williamston’s grade up (ahead of 24% 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, Williamston could be anywhere from D− to D.
How a workday changes Williamston
On a workday 1,551 residents head out to work, 434 work right here, and 2,769 people come in from elsewhere.
About 6,300 people are in Williamston on a workday afternoon, 24% more than live here.
1.6 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.
The 3,203 jobs based in Williamston
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Williamston, 2013 → 2023: 3,708 → 3,203. 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 Williamston’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far it is to work from Williamston
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.
The daily trip from Williamston: about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Williamston workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,131 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.
Commuting in to Williamston: where workers come from
Where Williamston clocks in
10% of workers
3% 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Williamston
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Williamston is more walkable than 85% of U.S. towns, #16 of 290 in North Carolina. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 9.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 2.9% across North Carolina, on an EPA index of 7.9.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,285 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). 17.2% of Williamston households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Williamston’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Williamston compares with U.S. towns of 3,600 to 6,900
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 89 | Jamestown NC | 3,803 | $105K | 2.5% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 196 | Fairview NC | 3,805 | $99K | 1.8% | 1.8% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 295 | Midland NC | 5,151 | $101K | 4.1% | 1.8% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,579 | Falfurrias TX | 4,248 | $49K | 19.9% | 24.3% | 21% | D− |
| 3,580 | Warren AR | 5,146 | $37K | 22.1% | 8.4% | 37% | D− |
| 3,581 | Williamston NC | 5,086 | $39K | 36.3% | 9.8% | 22% | D− |
| 3,582 | Lucerne Valley CA | 5,957 | $55K | 21.9% | 18.6% | 6% | D− |
| 3,583 | Springhill LA | 4,437 | $37K | 22.4% | 9.4% | 20% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,627 | 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 Williamston, 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 Williamston: questions
What is the median household income in Williamston?
$38,738 (±$9,382) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Williamston?
36.3%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Williamston?
20 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 Williamston work?
22% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Greenville (10%, 24 mi), Washington (3%, 20 mi), Raleigh (3%, 88 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Williamston walkable?
Williamston is more walkable than 85% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.9 out of 20, and 10% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Williamston without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 17% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Williamston, from the people who make the trip.
More of Williamston
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.