Photo: BeaufortTiger of English Wikipedia · Public domainA job hub: Beaufort has 2.1 jobs per working resident, and 8,155 people come in to work
About one in four work in Beaufort itself; outside it, Burton draws the most (8%, 2 miles). 9,260 jobs are based in Beaufort, against 4,338 working residents. Beaufort grades C+ for jobs and income and A− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Beaufort: the figures worth knowing
Beaufort is where the jobs are
Beaufort has 9,260 jobs, 2.1 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Beaufort are quick
The average trip to work takes 18 minutes, against 26 across South Carolina. That’s about 61 hours a year less on the road than the typical South Carolina worker. Time on the road ↓
Beaufort draws workers from far and wide
The 9,260 jobs in Beaufort are filled from a wide area. Beaufort’s own residents hold 12% and the ten next-biggest home towns 27%; the other 61% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
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.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Beaufort
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Beaufort is better than 38% of U.S. towns, #80 of 168 in South Carolina. Unemployment holds Beaufort’s grade up (3.6%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($61,220, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Beaufort could be anywhere from C− to B+.
The daily flow of workers through Beaufort
On a workday 3,233 residents head out to work and 1,105 work right here.
About 21,000 people are in Beaufort on a workday afternoon, 31% more than live here.
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 long Beaufort spends getting to work: about 18 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Beaufort workers work from home, vs 12% across South Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 7,173 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.
Where Beaufort’s workers come from
Where Beaufort clocks in
5% 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.
In Beaufort, services account for most jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Beaufort, 2013 → 2023: 7,968 → 9,260. 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 Beaufort’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Near or far: the trip to work from Beaufort
About 23% 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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Beaufort
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Beaufort is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns, #15 of 169 in South Carolina. Both inputs place Beaufort 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 7,800 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). 7.4% of Beaufort households have no vehicle (South Carolina 5.7%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Beaufort’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Beaufort ranks: 1,544th of 2,109 U.S. towns of 11,000 to 21,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| 2 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 49 | Tega Cay SC | 14,457 | $142K | 1.5% | 2.2% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 166 | Five Forks SC | 18,656 | $142K | 2.5% | 3.0% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 217 | James Island SC | 12,660 | $104K | 5.6% | 1.2% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,542 | Alexandria MN | 15,045 | $61K | 12.0% | 3.6% | 56% | C+ |
| 1,543 | Lennox CA | 19,449 | $58K | 16.4% | 6.6% | 3% | C+ |
| 1,544 | Beaufort SC | 15,775 | $61K | 12.5% | 3.6% | 25% | C+ |
| 1,545 | Laguna Woods CA | 16,844 | $59K | 14.2% | 7.3% | 4% | C+ |
| 1,546 | Jensen Beach FL | 12,531 | $71K | 16.7% | 4.3% | 8% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,109 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Beaufort, the top three, the last and three more from South Carolina.
Beaufort and its neighbors: 14% work next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Beaufort workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beaufort | – | C+ | A− | 18 min | $61,220 |
| Burton | 8% | B− | C | 26 min | $68,063 |
| Port Royal | 6% | B+ | A− | 14 min | $74,870 |
| Laurel Bay | under 1% | C− | D | 28 min | $54,345 |
| Seabrook | under 1% | — | — | 31 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Seabrook: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Burton. Darker towns draw more of Beaufort’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 Beaufort: questions
What is the median household income in Beaufort?
$61,220 (±$9,318) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,324 across South Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Beaufort?
12.5%, against 14.1% across South Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Beaufort?
18 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 Beaufort work?
25% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Burton (8%, 2 mi), Port Royal (6%, 7 mi), Hilton Head Island (5%, 18 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Beaufort walkable?
Beaufort is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.3 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Beaufort without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Beaufort, from the people who make the trip.
More of Beaufort
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.