Work & commute · Sawmills

Work & commute in Sawmills, NC

Most working residents leave Sawmills for work: only 2% work in town. The top destinations are Hickory (17%), Lenoir (14%) and Hudson (6%). Half commute less than 11 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

45 of 2,145 working residents

Typical commute

11 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

23 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 2,100 Sawmills residents head out of town to work, 45 work right here, and 587 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Sawmills.

2,100live here, work elsewhere

45live and work here

587work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Sawmills goes to work

Hickory10.3 mi away

17%365

Lenoir6.7 mi away

14%292

Hudson2.2 mi away

6%130

Granite Falls3.2 mi away

5%103

Charlotte55.5 mi away

5%102

Morganton13.6 mi away

4%89

Conover16.2 mi away

2%47

Long View8.2 mi away

2%45

Sawmills (in town)right here

2%45

Newton17.4 mi away

2%37

Everywhere elseother towns and states

41%890

Lines run between town centers; a thicker line means more commuters. The top 10 towns each way.

How far

How far Sawmills commutes

Straight-line distance from home to work, for every working resident. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.

46%

24%

11%

19%

46%Under 10 mi

24%10–24 mi

11%25–50 mi

19%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Sawmills is a commuter town

0.29jobs per working resident

A commuter town

0.29 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.

The jobs

What the jobs in Sawmills are

632 jobs are based in Sawmills. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Sawmills’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Sawmills

632 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)45%

Trade, transport & utilities13%

Services (health, schools, offices…)42%

$1,250 a month or less16%

$1,251–$3,333 a month36%

Over $3,333 a month48%

Jobs Sawmills residents hold

2,145 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)30%

Trade, transport & utilities21%

Services (health, schools, offices…)49%

$1,250 a month or less15%

$1,251–$3,333 a month34%

Over $3,333 a month51%

+12%

Jobs based in Sawmills, 2013 → 2023: 565 → 632. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.

About these numbers

How to read this page

Every worker, home to workThe Census links each worker’s home block to their main job’s block, for jobs covered by unemployment insurance. That’s most jobs, but not the self-employed.

Where the employer saysA job counts where the employer reports it. Some big employers report one address for many sites, which can make a few commutes look longer than they are.

Two surveysFlows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2023. Commute time and working from home: the Census American Community Survey.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs; American Community Survey 5-year estimates.