Photo: Bill Fitzpatrick · CC BY-SA 3.0At 21.8%, unemployment in Bamberg is among the highest of any U.S. town
Measured by household income, Bamberg is behind 88% of U.S. towns. Jobs and income earn Bamberg D−; getting around on foot earns it B−. About one in seven work in Bamberg; the top destination outside it is Columbia (7%, 52 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Bamberg, in brief
Bamberg trades workers with the towns around it
Bamberg has about as many jobs (1,127) as working residents (1,320), but they are mostly different people: 1,141 residents leave for work each day while 948 people come in. Only 16% of the jobs in Bamberg are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
A big share show a job far from home
32% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. 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.
The four measures behind Bamberg’s grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Bamberg is better than 3% of U.S. towns, #162 of 168 in South Carolina. Job access by car holds Bamberg’s grade up (ahead of 26% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Bamberg could be anywhere from D− to D.
A workday in Bamberg: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 1,141 residents head out to work, 179 work right here, and 948 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 (0.85 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.
How far it is to work from Bamberg
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 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Commuting out of Bamberg: the destinations
Where Bamberg clocks in
7% of workers
6% of workers
4% 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.
The kinds of work in Bamberg
1,127 jobs are based in Bamberg.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bamberg, 2013 → 2023: 1,123 → 1,127. 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 Bamberg’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 22 minutes each way, quicker than most of South Carolina
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bamberg workers work from home, vs 12% across South Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 744 commuters (the 8% 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.
Most of Bamberg commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Bamberg is more walkable than 52% of U.S. towns, #72 of 169 in South Carolina. Both inputs place Bamberg 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 807 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). 26.0% of Bamberg households have no vehicle (South Carolina 5.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Bamberg’s commuters take a bus or train.
Bamberg next to U.S. towns of 2,000 to 3,900
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 490 | Folly Beach SC | 2,081 | $102K | 4.0% | 2.1% | 13% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 502 | Golden Grove SC | 2,913 | $73K | 3.1% | 1.6% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 668 | Keowee Key SC | 3,351 | $125K | 2.1% | 2.6% | 7% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,705 | Kellogg ID | 2,456 | $51K | 19.2% | 10.8% | 30% | D− |
| 4,706 | Anthony KS | 2,034 | $51K | 21.1% | 3.9% | 40% | D− |
| 4,707 | Bamberg SC | 2,920 | $50K | 31.8% | 21.8% | 14% | D− |
| 4,708 | Point Pleasant WV | 3,869 | $38K | 24.4% | 8.1% | 21% | D− |
| 4,709 | Ladysmith WI | 3,172 | $42K | 19.0% | 10.2% | 37% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,882 | 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 Bamberg, the top three, the last and three more from South Carolina.
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 Bamberg: questions
What is the median household income in Bamberg?
$49,531 (±$25,790) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,324 across South Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bamberg?
31.8%, against 14.1% across South Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bamberg?
22 minutes each way on average, against 26 across South Carolina and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bamberg work?
14% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Columbia (7%, 52 mi), Orangeburg (6%, 16 mi), North Charleston (4%, 62 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Bamberg walkable?
Bamberg is more walkable than 52% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.4 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Bamberg without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 26% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Bamberg, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bamberg
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.