Photo: Upstateherd · CC BY-SA 4.0Edgefield has lower household incomes than 96% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Edgefield D; getting around on foot earns it B. The poverty rate is 31.4%, where South Carolina as a whole has 14.1%. For 3% of workers, the job is at home, where South Carolina as a whole has 12%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Edgefield: the figures worth knowing
Few Edgefield workers work from home
Only 3% of workers work from home, against 12% across South Carolina. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
A big share show a job far from home
31% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
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.
Income, poverty and work: Edgefield’s grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Edgefield is better than 5% of U.S. towns, #155 of 168 in South Carolina. Job access by car holds Edgefield’s grade up (ahead of 44% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (12.4%, U.S. 5.2%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Edgefield could be anywhere from D− to C.
A commute of about 30 minutes in Edgefield
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Edgefield workers work from home, vs 12% across South Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 985 commuters (the 3% 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Edgefield
About 31% 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.
Edgefield on a workday afternoon
On a workday 1,193 residents head out to work, 125 work right here, and 743 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,700 people are in Edgefield on a workday afternoon, 11% fewer than live here.
0.66 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.
6% of working residents work in Augusta
Where Edgefield clocks in
3% 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.
Most jobs in Edgefield are in services
868 jobs are based in Edgefield.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Edgefield, 2013 → 2023: 877 → 868. 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 Edgefield’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Most trips from Edgefield start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Edgefield is more walkable than 62% of U.S. towns, #57 of 169 in South Carolina. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 6.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 2.4% across South Carolina, on an EPA index of 5.9.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,020 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). 14.0% of Edgefield households have no vehicle (South Carolina 5.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Edgefield’s commuters take a bus or train.
Edgefield next to U.S. towns of 2,900 to 5,600
| # | 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 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 92 | Isle of Palms SC | 4,377 | $157K | 2.5% | 1.3% | 13% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 104 | India Hook SC | 3,960 | $107K | 1.2% | 0.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 507 | Golden Grove SC | 2,913 | $73K | 3.1% | 1.6% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,920 | Red Springs NC | 3,216 | $21K | 40.0% | 8.6% | 9% | D |
| 3,921 | Masontown PA | 3,100 | $54K | 31.7% | 12.6% | 3% | D |
| 3,922 | Edgefield SC | 4,182 | $40K | 31.4% | 12.4% | 9% | D |
| 3,923 | Stilwell OK | 3,892 | $37K | 34.2% | 5.7% | 31% | D |
| 3,924 | Abbeville SC | 4,902 | $41K | 27.3% | 7.5% | 16% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,112 | 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 Edgefield, 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 Edgefield: questions
What is the median household income in Edgefield?
$39,688 (±$18,075) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,324 across South Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Edgefield?
31.4%, against 14.1% across South Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Edgefield?
30 minutes each way on average, against 26 across South Carolina and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Edgefield work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Augusta (6%, 30 mi), Columbia (3%, 62 mi), North Augusta (3%, 18 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Edgefield walkable?
Edgefield is more walkable than 62% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 5.9 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Edgefield without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 14% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Edgefield, from the people who make the trip.
More of Edgefield
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.