Photo: Cqw1976 · CC BY-SA 4.0Cheraw’s household incomes are among the lowest in the country
Cheraw grades D− for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. Measured by household income, Cheraw is among the lowest-earning towns in the country. Poverty touches 37.0% of residents; South Carolina has 14.1%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Cheraw, in brief
Cheraw is where the jobs are
Cheraw has 5,676 jobs, 2.6 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 8,400 people are in town, 71% more than the 4,900 who live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Cheraw are quick
The average trip to work takes 14 minutes, against 26 across South Carolina. That’s about 92 hours a year less on the road than the typical South Carolina worker. Time on the road ↓
Cheraw draws workers from far and wide
The 5,676 jobs in Cheraw are filled from a wide area. Cheraw’s own residents hold 11% and the ten next-biggest home towns 14%; the other 75% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Cheraw makes and builds things
50% of the jobs based in Cheraw are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Cheraw residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 28%. The jobs ↓
Few Cheraw workers work from home
Only 2% of workers work from home, against 12% across South Carolina. Almost everyone here travels to a job. 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.
Cheraw’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Cheraw is better than 3% of U.S. towns, #166 of 168 in South Carolina. Job access by car holds Cheraw’s grade up (ahead of 33% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($26,689, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Cheraw could be anywhere from D− to D.
A workday in Cheraw: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 1,531 residents head out to work, 646 work right here, and 5,030 people come in from elsewhere.
About 8,400 people are in Cheraw on a workday afternoon, 71% more than live here.
2.6 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.
Each way, about 14 minutes from Cheraw
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Cheraw workers work from home, vs 12% across South Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,833 commuters (the 2% 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.
Where the people who work in Cheraw live
Where Cheraw clocks in
4% of workers
4% 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.
Goods jobs make up 50% of work in Cheraw
5,676 jobs are based in Cheraw.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Cheraw, 2013 → 2023: 5,325 → 5,676. 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 Cheraw’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute from Cheraw, by distance
About 35% 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.
Getting around Cheraw: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Cheraw is more walkable than 70% of U.S. towns, #40 of 169 in South Carolina. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 2.4% across South Carolina, on an EPA index of 7.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,872 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). 21.1% of Cheraw households have no vehicle (South Carolina 5.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Cheraw’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Cheraw sits among U.S. towns of 3,400 to 6,600
| # | 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 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 95 | Isle of Palms SC | 4,377 | $157K | 2.5% | 1.3% | 13% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 110 | India Hook SC | 3,960 | $107K | 1.2% | 0.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 749 | Baxter Village SC | 4,542 | $152K | 9.2% | 4.1% | 3% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,778 | Butler MO | 4,317 | $42K | 24.7% | 10.1% | 30% | D− |
| 3,779 | Mullins SC | 3,838 | $35K | 38.3% | 10.1% | 11% | D− |
| 3,780 | Cheraw SC | 4,921 | $27K | 37.0% | 11.8% | 30% | D− |
| 3,781 | Camilla GA | 4,988 | $38K | 38.0% | 10.9% | 34% | D− |
| 3,782 | Baxley GA | 5,058 | $30K | 32.2% | 9.0% | 29% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,840 | 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 Cheraw, 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 Cheraw: questions
What is the median household income in Cheraw?
$26,689 (±$3,652) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,324 across South Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Cheraw?
37.0%, against 14.1% across South Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Cheraw?
14 minutes each way on average, against 26 across South Carolina and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Cheraw work?
30% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Charlotte (4%, 63 mi), Florence (4%, 36 mi), Bennettsville (3%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Cheraw walkable?
Cheraw is more walkable than 70% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.3 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Cheraw without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 21% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Cheraw, from the people who make the trip.
More of Cheraw
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.