Households in Calhoun Falls have lower incomes than those in 97% of U.S. towns
Only 5% stay in Calhoun Falls for work; outside it, Abbeville is the main destination (11%, 14 miles). 16.6% of residents live below the poverty line, against 14.1% across South Carolina. The two grades for Calhoun Falls are D− for jobs and income and D for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Calhoun Falls apart
Calhoun Falls is a place people come home to
There are 147 jobs based in Calhoun Falls, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Calhoun Falls has about 1,300 people in it, 29% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
A big share show a job far from home
30% 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 ↓
Fewer than half of Calhoun Falls workers earn over $40,000 a year
44% of Calhoun Falls’ working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 17% earn $1,250 a month or less. 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 670 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The four measures behind Calhoun Falls’ grade
The poverty rate holds Calhoun Falls’ grade up; household income pulls it down ($38,715, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (2.5%) is left out: Calhoun Falls’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, Calhoun Falls could be anywhere from D− to D.
Who commutes out of Calhoun Falls, and who commutes in
On a workday 638 residents head out to work, 32 work right here, and 115 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,300 people are in Calhoun Falls on a workday afternoon, 29% fewer than live here.
0.22 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.
Calhoun Falls’ commute, mile by mile
About 30% 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.
What Calhoun Falls’ employers do
147 jobs are based in Calhoun Falls.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Calhoun Falls, 2013 → 2023: 150 → 147. 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 Calhoun Falls’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where Calhoun Falls goes to work
Where Calhoun Falls clocks in
11% of workers
10% of workers
3% 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.
Each way, about 26 minutes from Calhoun Falls
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Calhoun Falls workers work from home, vs 12% across South Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 783 commuters (the 6% 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 Calhoun Falls commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Calhoun Falls is more walkable than 14% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 1.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 2.4% across South Carolina, on an EPA index of 3.7.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 835 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). 9.3% of Calhoun Falls households have no vehicle (South Carolina 5.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Calhoun Falls’ commuters take a bus or train.
Calhoun Falls and other U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 289 | Pimlico SC | 1,765 | $137K | 4.8% | 0.0% | 0% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 293 | Sullivan's Island SC | 1,961 | $193K | 8.8% | 1.5% | 9% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 414 | Folly Beach SC | 2,081 | $102K | 4.0% | 2.1% | 13% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 5,581 | Linn MO | 1,453 | $36K | 25.5% | 0.2% | 16% | D− |
| 5,582 | Wolcott NY | 1,558 | $43K | 20.8% | 4.3% | 6% | D− |
| 5,583 | Calhoun Falls SC | 1,779 | $39K | 16.6% | 2.5% | 5% | D− |
| 5,584 | West Liberty WV | 1,429 | $44K | 33.6% | 7.1% | 3% | D− |
| 5,585 | Cumberland WI | 2,282 | $49K | 37.1% | 7.1% | 21% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 6,085 | 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 Calhoun Falls, 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 Calhoun Falls: questions
What is the median household income in Calhoun Falls?
$38,715 (±$8,261) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,324 across South Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Calhoun Falls?
16.6%, against 14.1% across South Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Calhoun Falls?
26 minutes each way on average, against 26 across South Carolina and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Calhoun Falls work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Abbeville (11%, 14 mi), Greenwood (10%, 26 mi), Anderson (3%, 30 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Calhoun Falls walkable?
Calhoun Falls is more walkable than 14% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 3.7 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Calhoun Falls without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Calhoun Falls, from the people who make the trip.
More of Calhoun Falls
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.