At 11.1%, unemployment in Arkwright is higher than in 96% of U.S. towns
Measured by household income, Arkwright is behind 83% of U.S. towns. The two grades for Arkwright are C− for jobs and income and C− for walkability. Home is the office for 3% of workers, next to 12% for South Carolina as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Arkwright
Arkwright makes and builds things
57% of the jobs based in Arkwright are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Arkwright residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 26%. The jobs ↓
Arkwright and Spartanburg trade workers both ways
Spartanburg is the top workplace for Arkwright residents (19%) and also where the most people who work in Arkwright come from (10% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Arkwright has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Arkwright went from 510 in 2013 to 843 in 2023, +65%. The jobs ↓
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; with 999 working residents, small shifts move the shares; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Arkwright
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Arkwright is better than 15% of U.S. towns, #128 of 168 in South Carolina. Job access by car holds Arkwright’s grade up (ahead of 69% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Arkwright could be anywhere from D to C+.
Making and building: 57% of jobs based in Arkwright
843 jobs are based in Arkwright.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Arkwright, 2013 → 2023: 510 → 843. 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 Arkwright’s own residents hold wherever they work.
19% of working residents work in Spartanburg
Where Arkwright clocks in
19% of workers
6% 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 leaves Arkwright for work, and who comes in
On a workday 992 residents head out to work, 7 work right here, and 836 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 (0.84 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
From Arkwright, about 20 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Arkwright workers work from home, vs 12% across South Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,167 commuters (the 3% 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.
How far Arkwright goes to work
About 18% 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.
Driving is how Arkwright gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Arkwright is more walkable than 18% of U.S. towns, #156 of 169 in South Carolina. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 2.4% across South Carolina.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,205 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). 8.4% of Arkwright households have no vehicle (South Carolina 5.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Arkwright’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 2,000 to 3,800, Arkwright ranks 3,915th of 4,703 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 456 | Folly Beach SC | 2,081 | $102K | 4.0% | 2.1% | 13% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 468 | Golden Grove SC | 2,913 | $73K | 3.1% | 1.6% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 627 | Keowee Key SC | 3,351 | $125K | 2.1% | 2.6% | 7% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,913 | South Fulton TN | 2,158 | $44K | 29.2% | 3.2% | 5% | C− |
| 3,914 | Campo CA | 2,729 | $79K | 15.0% | 7.5% | 4% | C− |
| 3,915 | Arkwright SC | 2,816 | $54K | 23.6% | 11.1% | 1% | C− |
| 3,916 | Olney TX | 3,000 | $36K | 26.4% | 2.4% | 32% | C− |
| 3,917 | Norton VA | 3,477 | $41K | 26.3% | 3.8% | 31% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,703 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 12% | 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 Arkwright, the top three, the last and three more from South Carolina.
The towns next door employ 21% of Arkwright
The biggest share goes to Spartanburg (19%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Arkwright workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arkwright | – | C− | C− | 20 min | $53,519 |
| Spartanburg | 19% | C− | B+ | 20 min | $51,964 |
| Roebuck | 2% | B | C | 21 min | $51,204 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Arkwright’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 Arkwright: questions
What is the median household income in Arkwright?
$53,519 (±$9,055) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,324 across South Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Arkwright?
23.6%, against 14.1% across South Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Arkwright?
20 minutes each way on average, against 26 across South Carolina and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Arkwright work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Spartanburg (19%, 2 mi), Greenville (6%, 25 mi), Southern Shops (3%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Arkwright walkable?
Arkwright is more walkable than 18% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 6.5 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Arkwright without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Arkwright, from the people who make the trip.
More of Arkwright
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.