Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0Clinton’s household incomes are lower than in 93% of U.S. towns
2% of workers have no commute at all, where South Carolina as a whole has 12%. Below the poverty line: 27.7% of residents, next to 14.1% for South Carolina as a whole. Jobs and income earn Clinton D; getting around on foot earns it A−.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Clinton stands out on work
No single place dominates Clinton’s commute
The biggest draw, Greenville, gets only 6% of working residents, and 61% work outside the top ten towns entirely. Clinton residents fan out across the region. The commute map ↓
Commutes from Clinton 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 ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Clinton than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Clinton fell from 3,608 in 2013 to 2,435 in 2023, −33%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
Few Clinton 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.
Inside Clinton’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Clinton is better than 13% of U.S. towns, #132 of 168 in South Carolina. Unemployment holds Clinton’s grade up (4.9%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Clinton could be anywhere from D to C.
6% of working residents work in Greenville
Where Clinton clocks in
6% of workers
5% 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.
From Clinton, about 19 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Clinton workers work from home, vs 12% across South Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,999 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.
Services make up most of the work in Clinton
2,435 jobs are based in Clinton.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Clinton, 2013 → 2023: 3,608 → 2,435. 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 Clinton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A workday in Clinton: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 2,672 residents head out to work, 423 work right here, and 2,012 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.79 per resident).
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 Clinton to work
About 23% 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.
In Clinton, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Clinton is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns, #12 of 169 in South Carolina. Both inputs place Clinton 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 3,071 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). 5.6% of Clinton households have no vehicle (South Carolina 5.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Clinton’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 5,500 to 10,700, and where Clinton sits
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 226 | Lake Murray of Richland SC | 7,023 | $119K | 2.0% | 2.3% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 947 | Blythewood SC | 7,233 | $94K | 4.8% | 5.0% | 3% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,042 | Murrells Inlet SC | 10,044 | $77K | 7.3% | 2.0% | 13% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,799 | Tell City IN | 7,441 | $53K | 22.4% | 5.3% | 26% | D |
| 2,800 | Starke FL | 5,963 | $52K | 28.7% | 4.0% | 16% | D |
| 2,801 | Clinton SC | 7,918 | $45K | 27.7% | 4.9% | 14% | D |
| 2,802 | Wasilla AK | 10,556 | $67K | 17.5% | 8.2% | — | D |
| 2,803 | Marion NC | 7,440 | $51K | 23.5% | 5.4% | 21% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 3,069 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Clinton, 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 Clinton: questions
What is the median household income in Clinton?
$44,522 (±$8,045) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,324 across South Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Clinton?
27.7%, against 14.1% across South Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Clinton?
19 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 Clinton work?
14% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Greenville (6%, 38 mi), Laurens (5%, 9 mi), Columbia (4%, 63 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Clinton walkable?
Clinton is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.3 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Clinton without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Clinton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Clinton
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.