Photo: Ichabod · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in Charlotte have lower incomes than those in 76% of U.S. towns
Only 7% stay in Charlotte for work; outside it, Nashville is the main destination (26%, 31 miles). Below the poverty line: 11.7% of residents, next to 13.8% for Tennessee as a whole. For jobs and income Charlotte is better than 35% of U.S. towns (C+); for walkability it is more walkable than 30% of U.S. towns (C).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Charlotte, in a few figures
Charlotte’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Charlotte is Nashville, 31 miles away as the crow flies. 26% of working residents (227) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Charlotte workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 34 minutes each way, against 26 across Tennessee. Over a year that’s about 261 hours of commuting, 61 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; with 859 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Why Charlotte gets the Jobs & income grade it does
Job access by car holds Charlotte’s grade up (ahead of 54% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($58,750, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (7.0%) is left out: Charlotte’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, Charlotte could be anywhere from C− to B.
How far it is to work from Charlotte
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.
Charlotte’s commute takes about 34 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Charlotte workers work from home, vs 13% across Tennessee. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 639 commuters (the 7% who work from home are left out). Across Tennessee: 87% 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.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 802 residents head out to work, 57 work right here, and 820 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 (1.02 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Where the trip to work from Charlotte ends
Where Charlotte clocks in
17% of workers
4% 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.
Health, schools and offices: most of the jobs in Charlotte
877 jobs are based in Charlotte.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Charlotte, 2014 → 2024: 741 → 877. 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 Charlotte’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Few in Charlotte walk, bike or ride to work
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 686 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). 4.1% of Charlotte households have no vehicle (Tennessee 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Charlotte’s commuters take a bus or train.
Charlotte is 2,868th of 5,381 U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,200 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 1% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 63 | Lookout Mountain TN | 2,044 | $201K | 2.3% | 0.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 178 | Walden TN | 1,965 | $124K | 3.1% | 4.1% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 206 | Fairmount TN | 2,110 | $137K | 3.7% | 0.0% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,866 | Warren IN | 1,209 | $68K | 12.4% | 5.6% | 6% | C+ |
| 2,867 | Waterloo IN | 2,168 | $67K | 12.5% | 6.4% | 5% | C+ |
| 2,868 | Charlotte TN | 1,647 | $59K | 11.7% | 7.0% | 7% | C+ |
| 2,869 | Moody TX | 1,650 | $70K | 17.6% | 4.1% | 2% | C+ |
| 2,870 | Cosmopolis WA | 1,656 | $85K | 10.3% | 5.8% | 1% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,381 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 7% | 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 Charlotte, the top three, the last and three more from Tennessee.
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 Charlotte: questions
What is the median household income in Charlotte?
$58,750 (±$14,928) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,595 across Tennessee and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Charlotte?
11.7%, against 13.8% across Tennessee and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Charlotte?
34 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Tennessee and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Charlotte work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Nashville (26%, 31 mi), Dickson (17%, 9 mi), Franklin (4%, 33 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Charlotte walkable?
Charlotte is more walkable than 30% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 6.3 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Charlotte without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Charlotte, from the people who make the trip.
More of Charlotte
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.