Photo: Townofbluffton · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Bluffton top those of 84% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Bluffton A; getting around on foot earns it C−. The poverty rate is 4.3%, where South Carolina as a whole has 14.1%. About one in five stay in Bluffton for work; outside it, Hilton Head Island is the main destination (22%, 11 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Bluffton, in brief
Jobs in Bluffton have more than doubled in ten years
Jobs based in Bluffton went from 4,673 in 2013 to 10,608 in 2023, +127%. The jobs ↓
Bluffton trades workers with the towns around it
Bluffton has about as many jobs (10,608) as working residents (11,999), but they are mostly different people: 9,696 residents leave for work each day while 8,305 people come in. Only 22% of the jobs in Bluffton are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Bluffton draws workers from far and wide
The 10,608 jobs in Bluffton are filled from a wide area. Bluffton’s own residents hold 22% and the ten next-biggest home towns 19%; the other 59% 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
The figures behind Bluffton’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Bluffton is better than 88% of U.S. towns, #8 of 168 in South Carolina. The poverty rate is its strongest input; job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 55% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Bluffton could be anywhere from A− to A.
Jobs in Bluffton: what the 10,608 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bluffton, 2013 → 2023: 4,673 → 10,608. 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 Bluffton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Bluffton on a workday afternoon
On a workday 9,696 residents head out to work, 2,303 work right here, and 8,305 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 (0.88 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.
Where Bluffton goes to work
Where Bluffton clocks in
22% 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.
Getting to work from Bluffton takes about 28 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bluffton workers work from home, vs 12% across South Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 13,182 commuters (the 15% 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 Bluffton
About 20% 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.
Most of Bluffton commutes by car
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.5% of 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 15,591 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). 1.5% of Bluffton households have no vehicle (South Carolina 5.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Bluffton’s commuters take a bus or train.
Bluffton next to U.S. towns of 26,000 to 50,000: 239th of 1,162 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| 2 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 3 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 64 | Fort Mill SC | 38,673 | $122K | 4.8% | 2.3% | 15% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 237 | Danvers MA | 29,211 | $125K | 4.8% | 4.7% | 14% | A |
| 238 | Shakopee MN | 49,366 | $107K | 5.9% | 3.7% | 17% | A |
| 239 | Bluffton SC | 36,807 | $111K | 4.3% | 2.2% | 19% | A |
| 240 | Fairfax VA | 26,772 | $132K | 9.1% | 3.3% | 7% | A |
| 241 | Orion Township MI | 38,882 | $119K | 4.6% | 4.2% | 9% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 517 | Simpsonville SC | 28,459 | $82K | 6.1% | 4.1% | 5% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 521 | North Augusta SC | 26,982 | $86K | 6.6% | 3.8% | 9% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,162 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 Bluffton, 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 Bluffton: questions
What is the median household income in Bluffton?
$111,281 (±$6,844) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,324 across South Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bluffton?
4.3%, against 14.1% across South Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bluffton?
28 minutes each way on average, against 26 across South Carolina and 26 nationally. 16% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bluffton work?
19% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Hilton Head Island (22%, 11 mi), Burton (6%, 18 mi), Savannah (4%, 21 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Bluffton walkable?
Bluffton is more walkable than 22% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 6.2 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Bluffton without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Bluffton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bluffton
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.