Photo: Raventsaid · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Whiteville trail those of 95% of U.S. towns
For 0% of workers, the job is at home, against 13% across Tennessee. 28.4% of residents live below the poverty line (Tennessee 13.8%). Jobs and income earn Whiteville D−; getting around on foot earns it D.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Whiteville apart
Whiteville is where the jobs are
Whiteville has 964 jobs, 1.5 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Whiteville’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Whiteville is Jackson, 29 miles away as the crow flies. 11% of working residents (71) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Whiteville than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Whiteville fell from 1,723 in 2014 to 964 in 2024, −44%. 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 ↓
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 642 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Whiteville
On income, poverty and job access, Whiteville is better than 4% of U.S. towns, #175 of 177 in Tennessee. Job access by car holds Whiteville’s grade up (ahead of 25% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
Unemployment (15.1%) is left out: Whiteville’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, Whiteville could be anywhere from D− to D.
Whiteville on a workday afternoon
On a workday 585 residents head out to work, 57 work right here, and 907 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.
1.5 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 2024, primary jobs.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Whiteville
About 32% 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.
Health, schools and offices: most of the jobs in Whiteville
964 jobs are based in Whiteville.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Whiteville, 2014 → 2024: 1,723 → 964. 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 Whiteville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip into Whiteville
Where Whiteville clocks in
11% of workers
9% 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.
About 27 minutes to work from Whiteville
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Whiteville workers work from home, vs 13% across Tennessee. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 370 commuters (the 0% 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.
Driving is how Whiteville gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Whiteville is more walkable than 14% of U.S. towns, #157 of 177 in Tennessee. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 1.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 2.0% across Tennessee, on an EPA index of 3.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 370 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). 12.7% of Whiteville households have no vehicle (Tennessee 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Whiteville’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 3,100 to 6,100, and where Whiteville sits
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 11 | Oak Hill TN | 4,581 | $216K | 1.2% | 1.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 63 | Forest Hills TN | 4,473 | $250K | 6.7% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 439 | Coopertown TN | 4,843 | $118K | 9.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,961 | Salton City CA | 5,988 | $48K | 14.4% | 12.8% | 6% | D− |
| 3,962 | Salamanca NY | 5,719 | $42K | 24.4% | 8.6% | 26% | D− |
| 3,963 | Whiteville TN | 4,482 | $42K | 28.4% | 15.1% | 9% | D− |
| 3,964 | San Diego TX | 3,503 | $53K | 34.0% | 10.8% | 9% | D− |
| 3,965 | Mansfield LA | 4,475 | $34K | 30.2% | 13.3% | 25% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,088 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 19% | 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 Whiteville, 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 Whiteville: questions
What is the median household income in Whiteville?
$42,105 (±$10,405) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,595 across Tennessee and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Whiteville?
28.4%, against 13.8% across Tennessee and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Whiteville?
27 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Tennessee and 26 nationally. 0% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Whiteville work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Jackson (11%, 29 mi), Bolivar (10%, 9 mi), Memphis (9%, 48 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Whiteville walkable?
Whiteville is more walkable than 14% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 3.2 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Whiteville without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 13% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Whiteville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Whiteville
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.