Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0Chapin has 2.7 jobs for every working resident: 2,396 people commute in to work
Chapin has 2,458 jobs, against 915 working residents. Jobs and income earn Chapin B+; getting around on foot earns it C+. Only 7% work in Chapin itself; outside it, Columbia draws the most (22%, 27 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Chapin
Chapin is where the jobs are
Chapin has 2,458 jobs, 2.7 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 3,500 people are in town, 79% more than the 1,900 who live here. Day and night ↓
Chapin’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Chapin is Columbia, 27 miles away as the crow flies. 22% of working residents (198) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Chapin workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 31 minutes each way, against 26 across South Carolina. Over a year that’s about 238 hours of commuting, 38 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
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 915 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Chapin
On income, poverty and job access, Chapin is better than 68% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Chapin’s grade. It also does well on household income and the poverty rate.
Unemployment (2.6%) is left out: Chapin’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, Chapin could be anywhere from B− to A−.
Chapin on a workday afternoon
On a workday 853 residents head out to work and 62 work right here.
About 3,500 people are in Chapin on a workday afternoon, 79% 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.
The distance from Chapin to work
About 18% 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.
Time on the road from Chapin: about 31 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Chapin workers work from home, vs 12% across South Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 634 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.
Who travels to work in Chapin, and from where
Where Chapin clocks in
22% of workers
4% of workers
4% 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.
What Chapin’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Chapin, 2013 → 2023: 2,083 → 2,458. 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 Chapin’s own residents hold wherever they work.
For most of Chapin, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Chapin is more walkable than 45% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.8% 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 700 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 3.1% of Chapin households have no vehicle (South Carolina 5.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Chapin’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 1,400 to 2,600, Chapin ranks 1,211th of 5,234 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 272 | Pimlico SC | 1,765 | $137K | 4.8% | 0.0% | 0% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 277 | Sullivan's Island SC | 1,961 | $193K | 8.8% | 1.5% | 9% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 393 | Folly Beach SC | 2,081 | $102K | 4.0% | 2.1% | 13% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,209 | Eleele HI | 2,522 | $118K | 6.1% | 2.7% | 5% | B+ |
| 1,210 | Ravenna MI | 1,409 | $78K | 6.3% | 3.4% | 5% | B+ |
| 1,211 | Chapin SC | 1,945 | $80K | 7.5% | 2.6% | 7% | B+ |
| 1,212 | Fugit Township IN | 1,894 | $94K | 2.9% | 0.0% | 1% | B+ |
| 1,213 | Cotton Township IN | 1,856 | $74K | 1.6% | 1.0% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,234 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Chapin, 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 Chapin: questions
What is the median household income in Chapin?
$79,922 (±$10,165) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,324 across South Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Chapin?
7.5%, against 14.1% across South Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Chapin?
31 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 Chapin work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Columbia (22%, 27 mi), Irmo (4%, 9 mi), Seven Oaks (4%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Chapin walkable?
Chapin is more walkable than 45% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 8.0 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Chapin without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Chapin, from the people who make the trip.
More of Chapin
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.