Zubly Cemetery · Photo: Bill Fitzpatrick · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Beech Island are lower than in 98% of U.S. towns
For jobs and income Beech Island is better than 13% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns (C+). 34.3% of residents are in poverty, where South Carolina as a whole has 14.1%. 1% of workers have no commute at all, against 12% across South Carolina.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in Beech Island, in brief
Beech Island has far more jobs than workers
Beech Island has 1,826 jobs, 3.3 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 2,800 people are in town, 80% more than the 1,600 who live here. Day and night ↓
Many of the people who work in Beech Island live in another state
Augusta, GA (20%), Martinez, GA (3%) and Evans, GA (3%) are among the top places Beech Island’s workers come from. Counting only the top ten home towns, 26% of the jobs here are held by people from out of state. The commute map ↓
Jobs in Beech Island have more than doubled in ten years
Jobs based in Beech Island went from 527 in 2013 to 1,826 in 2023, +246%. 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 559 working residents, small shifts move the shares; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Why Beech Island gets the Jobs & income grade it does
Job access by car holds Beech Island’s grade up (ahead of 63% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
Unemployment (15.7%) is left out: Beech Island’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Beech Island could be anywhere from D to C.
A workday in Beech Island: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 543 residents head out to work, 16 work right here, and 1,810 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,800 people are in Beech Island on a workday afternoon, 80% more than live here.
3.3 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.
The towns that send workers to Beech Island
Where Beech Island clocks in
11% of workers
7% 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.
Goods, not services: 62% of the jobs in Beech Island
1,826 jobs are based in Beech Island.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Beech Island, 2013 → 2023: 527 → 1,826. 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 Beech Island’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Beech Island: about 29 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Beech Island workers work from home, vs 12% across South Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 562 commuters (the 1% 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Beech Island
About 24% 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.
Few in Beech Island walk, bike or ride to work
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 6.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 2.4% across South Carolina, on an EPA index of 3.9.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 569 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). 16.0% of Beech Island households have no vehicle (South Carolina 5.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Beech Island’s commuters take a bus or train.
Beech Island places 4,589th of 5,794 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,100
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 267 | Pimlico SC | 1,765 | $137K | 4.8% | 0.0% | 0% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 272 | Sullivan's Island SC | 1,961 | $193K | 8.8% | 1.5% | 9% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 374 | Folly Beach SC | 2,081 | $102K | 4.0% | 2.1% | 13% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,587 | Genoa AR | 1,113 | $49K | 19.4% | 0.0% | <1% | D |
| 4,588 | Silver Springs Shores East FL | 1,777 | $60K | 36.7% | 12.5% | 2% | D |
| 4,589 | Beech Island SC | 1,578 | $36K | 34.3% | 15.7% | 3% | D |
| 4,590 | Hazen AR | 1,374 | $49K | 14.7% | 1.5% | 11% | D |
| 4,591 | Cambridge City IN | 1,730 | $51K | 19.9% | 4.7% | 7% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,794 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | 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 Beech Island, the top three, the last and three more from South Carolina.
23% of Beech Island works in a town next door
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Beech Island workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beech Island | – | D | C+ | 29 min | $36,027 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Augusta. Darker towns draw more of Beech Island’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 Beech Island: questions
What is the median household income in Beech Island?
$36,027 (±$18,724) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,324 across South Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Beech Island?
34.3%, against 14.1% across South Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Beech Island?
29 minutes each way on average, against 26 across South Carolina and 26 nationally. 1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Beech Island work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Augusta (23%, 12 mi), Aiken (11%, 12 mi), North Augusta (7%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Beech Island walkable?
Beech Island is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 3.9 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Beech Island without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 16% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Beech Island, from the people who make the trip.
More of Beech Island
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.