Household incomes in Dovesville are among the lowest of any U.S. town
For jobs and income Dovesville is better than 6% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 3% of U.S. towns (D−). Household incomes here are among the lowest in the country. Below the poverty line: 52.9% of residents, next to 14.1% across South Carolina.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Dovesville and work: the main findings
Few Dovesville 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 ↓
Commutes from Dovesville are quick
The average trip to work takes 21 minutes, against 26 across South Carolina. That’s about 38 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; with 341 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Dovesville’s Jobs & income grade
Job access by car holds Dovesville’s grade up (ahead of 41% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
Unemployment (5.0%) is left out: Dovesville’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Dovesville stays D.
Getting to work from Dovesville takes about 21 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Dovesville workers work from home, vs 12% across South Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 248 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.
The daily commute in and out of Dovesville
On a workday 340 residents head out to work, 1 work right here, and 156 people come in from elsewhere.
About 940 people are in Dovesville on a workday afternoon, 16% fewer than live here.
0.46 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.
13% of working residents work in Florence
Where Dovesville clocks in
13% of workers
10% of workers
6% 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.
Health, schools and offices: most of the jobs in Dovesville
157 jobs are based in Dovesville.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Dovesville, 2013 → 2023: 11 → 157. 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 Dovesville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Dovesville
About 25% 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 Dovesville, most people drive to work
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 254 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). 0.0% of Dovesville households have no vehicle (South Carolina 5.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Dovesville’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 3,771 U.S. towns of 800 to 1,500, Dovesville comes 3,355th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 531 | Shell Point SC | 1,439 | $82K | 3.1% | 6.4% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 873 | Meggett SC | 1,484 | $98K | 11.0% | 2.0% | 6% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,069 | Edisto Beach SC | 1,071 | $86K | 2.5% | 5.8% | 8% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 3,353 | Leadwood MO | 1,158 | $45K | 36.0% | 2.7% | 1% | D |
| 3,354 | Panama OK | 1,314 | $47K | 29.0% | 6.2% | 2% | D |
| 3,355 | Dovesville SC | 1,120 | $32K | 52.9% | 5.0% | <1% | D |
| 3,356 | Norman Park GA | 1,007 | $51K | 21.5% | 5.3% | 2% | D |
| 3,357 | Frazee MN | 1,310 | $47K | 22.3% | 7.1% | 6% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 3,771 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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 Dovesville, 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 Dovesville: questions
What is the median household income in Dovesville?
$31,918 (±$10,547) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,324 across South Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Dovesville?
52.9%, against 14.1% across South Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Dovesville?
21 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 Dovesville work?
<1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Florence (13%, 17 mi), Hartsville (10%, 10 mi), Darlington (6%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Dovesville walkable?
Dovesville is more walkable than 3% of U.S. towns (Walkability D−): an EPA walkability index of 4.0 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Dovesville without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Dovesville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Dovesville
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.