Wilson's Mills has higher unemployment (10.7%) than 95% of U.S. towns
Below the poverty line: 31.9% of residents, next to 13.0% for North Carolina as a whole. Jobs and income earn Wilson's Mills C−; getting around on foot earns it C−. Hardly any work in Wilson's Mills itself; outside it, Raleigh draws the most (22%, 23 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Wilson's Mills and work: the main findings
Wilson's Mills makes and builds things
49% of the jobs based in Wilson's Mills are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Wilson's Mills residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 21%. The jobs ↓
Wilson's Mills’ biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Wilson's Mills is Raleigh, 23 miles away as the crow flies. 22% of working residents (297) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Wilson's Mills workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 31 minutes each way, against 25 across North Carolina. Over a year that’s about 238 hours of commuting, 46 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Jobs & income in Wilson's Mills: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Wilson's Mills is better than 16% of U.S. towns, #247 of 290 in North Carolina. Job access by car holds Wilson's Mills’ grade up (ahead of 63% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Wilson's Mills could be anywhere from D to B+.
Goods jobs make up 49% of work in Wilson's Mills
463 jobs are based in Wilson's Mills.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Wilson's Mills, 2014 → 2024: 463 → 463. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Wilson's Mills’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute from Wilson's Mills, by distance
About 17% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Commuting from Wilson's Mills: about 31 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Wilson's Mills workers work from home, vs 16% across North Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,015 commuters (the 10% 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.
How a workday changes Wilson's Mills
On a workday 1,355 residents head out to work, 13 work right here, and 450 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,100 people are in Wilson's Mills on a workday afternoon, 30% fewer than live here.
0.34 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 2024, primary jobs.
The towns that employ Wilson's Mills’ residents
Where Wilson's Mills clocks in
22% 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.
For most of Wilson's Mills, work means a drive
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,132 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). 3.2% of Wilson's Mills households have no vehicle (North Carolina 5.3%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Wilson's Mills’ commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 2,100 to 4,000, Wilson's Mills ranks 3,830th of 4,618 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 79 | Jamestown NC | 3,803 | $105K | 2.5% | 0.7% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 112 | Avery Creek NC | 2,887 | $113K | 1.4% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 167 | Wrightsville Beach NC | 2,397 | $152K | 4.0% | 0.4% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,828 | South Blooming Grove NY | 3,810 | $62K | 38.1% | 11.4% | 4% | C− |
| 3,829 | Franklinton NC | 2,890 | $59K | 17.2% | 9.6% | 2% | C− |
| 3,830 | Wilson's Mills NC | 2,987 | $63K | 31.9% | 10.7% | 1% | C− |
| 3,831 | Carrier Mills Township IL | 2,221 | $53K | 20.3% | 4.2% | 6% | C− |
| 3,832 | Addison NY | 2,309 | $57K | 14.9% | 6.0% | 15% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,618 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 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 Wilson's Mills, 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 2024, 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 Wilson's Mills: questions
What is the median household income in Wilson's Mills?
$62,813 (±$5,388) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,388 across North Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Wilson's Mills?
31.9%, against 13.0% across North Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Wilson's Mills?
31 minutes each way on average, against 25 across North Carolina and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Wilson's Mills work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Raleigh (22%, 23 mi), Clayton (7%, 7 mi), Smithfield (6%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Wilson's Mills walkable?
Wilson's Mills is more walkable than 22% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 5.4 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Wilson's Mills without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Wilson's Mills, from the people who make the trip.
More of Wilson's Mills
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.