Kennedy Street School · Photo: Bill Fitzpatrick · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Anderson have lower incomes than those in 91% of U.S. towns
The poverty rate is 21.0% (South Carolina 14.1%). Anderson grades C− for jobs and income and A− for walkability. About one in five work in Anderson; the top destination outside it is Greenville (9%, 27 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Anderson apart on work
Anderson draws workers from far and wide
The 20,978 jobs in Anderson are filled from a wide area. Anderson’s own residents hold 13% and the ten next-biggest home towns 12%; the other 75% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Anderson is where the jobs are
Anderson has 20,978 jobs, 1.7 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Anderson’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Anderson is Greenville, 27 miles away as the crow flies. 9% of working residents (1,042) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Income, poverty and work: Anderson’s grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Anderson is better than 18% of U.S. towns, #124 of 168 in South Carolina. Job access by car holds Anderson’s grade up (ahead of 67% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($46,933, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Anderson could be anywhere from D to C.
Where the people who work in Anderson live
Where Anderson clocks in
9% of workers
2% 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.
Who commutes out of Anderson, and who commutes in
On a workday 9,533 residents head out to work, 2,724 work right here, and 18,254 people come in from elsewhere.
About 40,000 people are in Anderson on a workday afternoon, 28% more than live here.
1.7 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 2023, primary jobs.
How far it is to work from Anderson
About 16% 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 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
The 20,978 jobs based in Anderson
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Anderson, 2013 → 2023: 21,215 → 20,978. 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 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Anderson’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 22 minutes to work from Anderson
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Anderson workers work from home, vs 12% across South Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 12,573 commuters (the 6% who work from home are left out). Across South Carolina: 86% 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.
Anderson is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Anderson is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns, #22 of 169 in South Carolina. Both inputs place Anderson near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 13,351 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 11.9% of Anderson households have no vehicle (South Carolina 5.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Anderson’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 22,000 to 42,000, and where Anderson sits
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 85 | Fort Mill SC | 38,673 | $122K | 4.8% | 2.3% | 15% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 276 | Bluffton SC | 36,807 | $111K | 4.3% | 2.2% | 19% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 550 | Hanahan SC | 22,415 | $88K | 11.7% | 2.5% | 5% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,253 | Sedalia MO | 22,621 | $51K | 19.4% | 5.2% | 40% | C− |
| 1,254 | Roseburg OR | 23,693 | $54K | 22.4% | 4.7% | 48% | C− |
| 1,255 | Anderson SC | 31,323 | $47K | 21.0% | 6.8% | 22% | C− |
| 1,256 | Petersburg VA | 33,734 | $51K | 21.7% | 10.0% | 13% | C− |
| 1,257 | Hammond LA | 24,032 | $48K | 28.9% | 5.9% | 28% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,334 | Barstow CA | 24,804 | $53K | 23.1% | 11.9% | 17% | 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 Anderson, the top three, the last and three more from South Carolina.
The towns around Anderson
The biggest share goes to Northlake (2%).
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Anderson’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, 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 Anderson: questions
What is the median household income in Anderson?
$46,933 (±$4,427) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,324 across South Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Anderson?
21.0%, against 14.1% across South Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Anderson?
22 minutes each way on average, against 26 across South Carolina and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Anderson work?
22% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Greenville (9%, 27 mi), Clemson (2%, 15 mi), Columbia (2%, 105 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Anderson walkable?
Anderson is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.3 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Anderson without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Anderson, from the people who make the trip.
More of Anderson
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, 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.