Brookdale’s household incomes are lower than in 96% of U.S. towns
For jobs and income Brookdale is better than 6% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 48% of U.S. towns (B−). Below the poverty line: 34.8% of residents (South Carolina 14.1%). Only 3% work in Brookdale itself; outside it, Orangeburg draws the most (12%, 3 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Brookdale and work: the main findings
Brookdale’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
Job access by car holds Brookdale’s grade up (ahead of 55% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (21.5%, U.S. 5.2%).
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Brookdale stays D.
Mostly health care, schools and offices in Brookdale
823 jobs are based in Brookdale.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Brookdale, 2013 → 2023: 805 → 823. 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 Brookdale’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Brookdale by day and by night
On a workday 1,394 residents head out to work, 42 work right here, and 781 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,700 people are in Brookdale on a workday afternoon, 14% fewer than live here.
0.57 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.
Where Brookdale goes to work
Where Brookdale clocks in
12% 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.
Time on the road from Brookdale: about 25 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Brookdale workers work from home, vs 12% across South Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,277 commuters (the 9% 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 many miles Brookdale commutes
About 28% 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 Brookdale walk, bike or ride to work
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,402 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). 13.8% of Brookdale households have no vehicle (South Carolina 5.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Brookdale’s commuters take a bus or train.
Brookdale and other U.S. towns of 3,000 to 5,800
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 98 | Isle of Palms SC | 4,377 | $157K | 2.5% | 1.3% | 13% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 109 | India Hook SC | 3,960 | $107K | 1.2% | 0.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 666 | Keowee Key SC | 3,351 | $125K | 2.1% | 2.6% | 7% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,810 | Smithville TN | 5,620 | $33K | 33.4% | 7.4% | 24% | D |
| 3,811 | Richland Township IN | 3,874 | $50K | 24.5% | 9.1% | 8% | D |
| 3,812 | Brookdale SC | 4,291 | $39K | 34.8% | 21.5% | 3% | D |
| 3,813 | West Liberty KY | 3,339 | $48K | 17.4% | 6.3% | 27% | D |
| 3,814 | Shenandoah PA | 4,122 | $45K | 27.7% | 9.4% | 8% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,039 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Brookdale, the top three, the last and three more from South Carolina.
Work next door: 18% of Brookdale’s workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Brookdale workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brookdale | – | D | B− | 25 min | $39,449 |
| Orangeburg | 12% | D | B | 24 min | $38,635 |
| Wilkinson Heights | 6% | D | B+ | 23 min | $25,489 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Orangeburg. Darker towns draw more of Brookdale’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 Brookdale: questions
What is the median household income in Brookdale?
$39,449 (±$10,543) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,324 across South Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Brookdale?
34.8%, against 14.1% across South Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Brookdale?
25 minutes each way on average, against 26 across South Carolina and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Brookdale work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Orangeburg (12%, 3 mi), Wilkinson Heights (6%, 2 mi), Columbia (6%, 36 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Brookdale walkable?
Brookdale is more walkable than 48% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 6.4 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Brookdale without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 14% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Brookdale, from the people who make the trip.
More of Brookdale
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.