J.C. Stribling Barn · Photo: KudzuVine · Public domain39% of Clemson’s residents are college students
Clemson grades B+ for jobs and income and A for walkability. Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 4.4 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 2.2 in North Charleston. Family incomes here are higher than in 78% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Clemson stands out on work
Clemson is where the jobs are
Clemson has 11,117 jobs, 2.1 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Clemson draws workers from far and wide
The 11,117 jobs in Clemson are filled from a wide area. Clemson’s own residents hold 13% and the ten next-biggest home towns 17%; the other 70% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
No single place dominates Clemson’s commute
The biggest draw, Greenville, gets only 7% of working residents, and 51% work outside the top ten towns entirely. Clemson residents fan out across the region. The commute map ↓
Nearly all the work in Clemson is services
91% of the jobs based here are in services, such as health care, schools and offices. Only 1% are in factories, building or farms. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Clemson are quick
The average trip to work takes 19 minutes, against 26 across South Carolina. That’s about 54 hours a year less on the road than the typical South Carolina 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.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Clemson
On family income, poverty and job access, Clemson is better than 66% of U.S. towns, #34 of 168 in South Carolina. Family income holds Clemson’s grade up ($120,714, U.S. $99,999); the poverty rate pulls it down (10.3%, U.S. 11.9%). It also does well on job access by car.
Unemployment (4.5%) is left out here: students looking for part-time work count as unemployed. Income is ranked as median family income ($120,714), since student households pull the household median down ($49,520).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for family income and poverty, Clemson could be anywhere from B− to A.
How many people are in Clemson by day
On a workday 3,941 residents head out to work, 1,462 work right here, and 9,655 people come in from elsewhere.
About 25,000 people are in Clemson on a workday afternoon, 30% more than live here.
2.1 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.
Where Clemson’s workforce comes from
Where Clemson clocks in
7% 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.
Mostly services: health care, schools and offices
11,117 jobs are based in Clemson.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Clemson, 2013 → 2023: 9,248 → 11,117. 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 Clemson’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Clemson, about 19 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Clemson workers work from home, vs 12% across South Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 7,361 commuters (the 10% 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.
The commute from Clemson, by distance
About 21% 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.
Clemson is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Clemson is more walkable than 94% of U.S. towns, #4 of 169 in South Carolina. Both inputs place Clemson near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 8,163 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 69% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 26% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 4.4 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 82% 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). 9.0% of Clemson households have no vehicle (South Carolina 5.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 4% of Clemson’s commuters take a bus or train.
Clemson next to U.S. towns of 13,000 to 26,000: 980th of 2,023 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Trophy Club TX | 13,695 | $201K | 2.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 42 | Tega Cay SC | 14,457 | $142K | 1.5% | 2.2% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 158 | Five Forks SC | 18,656 | $142K | 2.5% | 3.0% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 789 | Hanahan SC | 22,415 | $88K | 11.7% | 2.5% | 5% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 978 | University Heights OH | 13,200 | $97K | 11.1% | 5.3% | 4% | B+ |
| 979 | Vandalia OH | 15,014 | $73K | 9.0% | 3.6% | 12% | B+ |
| 980 | Clemson SC | 18,941 | $50K | 36.0% | 4.5% | 27% | B+ |
| 981 | Iona FL | 13,631 | $67K | 8.2% | 2.0% | 7% | B+ |
| 982 | Overlea MD | 13,035 | $89K | 9.1% | 5.6% | 2% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,023 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Clemson, the top three, the last and three more from South Carolina.
Next door to Clemson
The biggest share goes to Clemson University (3%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Clemson workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clemson | – | B+ | A | 19 min | $49,520 |
| Clemson University | 3% | — | A+ | 14 min | — |
| Central | 1% | C− | A | 23 min | $60,258 |
| Pendleton | under 1% | C+ | C+ | 24 min | $61,901 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Clemson’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.
- Students. 39% of residents are college students; the poverty input leaves off-campus students out (above).
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Clemson: questions
What is the median household income in Clemson?
$49,520 (±$4,042) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,324 across South Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Clemson?
36.0% of residents live below the poverty line; leaving out college students, 10.3%. South Carolina: 14.1%.
How long is the commute from Clemson?
19 minutes each way on average, against 26 across South Carolina and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Clemson work?
27% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Greenville (7%, 28 mi), Clemson University (3%, 2 mi), Anderson (3%, 15 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Clemson walkable?
Clemson is more walkable than 94% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 10.8 out of 20, and 11% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Clemson without a car?
4% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. 26% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Clemson, from the people who make the trip.
More of Clemson
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.