Work & commute · Spring Lake

Work & commute in Spring Lake, NC

Most working residents leave Spring Lake for work: only 6% work in town. The top destinations are Fayetteville (28%), Raleigh (5%) and Charlotte (3%). Half commute less than 23 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

177 of 2,783 working residents

Typical commute

23 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

19 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 2,606 Spring Lake residents head out of town to work, 177 work right here, and 2,558 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Spring Lake.

2,606live here, work elsewhere

177live and work here

2,558work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Spring Lake goes to work

Fayetteville7.2 mi away

28%768

Spring Lake (in town)right here

6%177

Raleigh48.9 mi away

5%147

Charlotte103.7 mi away

3%95

Durham55.1 mi away

2%63

Hope Mills15 mi away

2%44

Greensboro78.2 mi away

2%42

Sanford23.7 mi away

1%41

Lumberton38.3 mi away

1%38

Anderson Creek6.2 mi away

1%31

Everywhere elseother towns and states

48%1,337

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

How far

How far Spring Lake commutes

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

30%

22%

17%

31%

30%Under 10 mi

22%10–24 mi

17%25–50 mi

31%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Spring Lake is balanced between jobs and homes

0.98jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (0.98 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in Spring Lake are

2,735 jobs are based in Spring Lake. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Spring Lake’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Spring Lake

2,735 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)3%

Trade, transport & utilities32%

Services (health, schools, offices…)65%

$1,250 a month or less22%

$1,251–$3,333 a month37%

Over $3,333 a month41%

Jobs Spring Lake residents hold

2,783 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)12%

Trade, transport & utilities25%

Services (health, schools, offices…)63%

$1,250 a month or less21%

$1,251–$3,333 a month41%

Over $3,333 a month38%

−8%

Jobs based in Spring Lake, 2013 → 2023: 2,987 → 2,735. 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.