James M. Davis House · Photo: Bill Fitzpatrick · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Five Forks have higher incomes than those in 94% of U.S. towns
2.5% of residents are in poverty (South Carolina 14.1%). The two grades for Five Forks are A+ for jobs and income and B− for walkability. Home is the office for 19% of workers, 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
Getting to work from Five Forks, in brief
Jobs in Five Forks have more than doubled in ten years
Jobs based in Five Forks went from 1,460 in 2013 to 3,132 in 2023, +115%. The jobs ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Five Forks
67% of Five Forks residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 38% of the jobs based in Five Forks pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 96% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
Many jobs in Five Forks pay little
30% of the jobs based in Five Forks pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. Young workers hold many of them: 33% of all the jobs here go to people 29 or younger. The jobs ↓
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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Five Forks
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Five Forks is better than 96% of U.S. towns, #5 of 168 in South Carolina. The poverty rate is its strongest input; unemployment ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (3.0%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Five Forks could be anywhere from A to A+.
What the 3,132 jobs in Five Forks are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Five Forks, 2013 → 2023: 1,460 → 3,132. 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 Five Forks’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How a workday changes Five Forks
On a workday 7,000 residents head out to work, 267 work right here, and 2,865 people come in from elsewhere.
About 15,000 people are in Five Forks on a workday afternoon, 22% fewer than live here.
0.43 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.
25% of working residents work in Greenville
Where Five Forks clocks in
25% of workers
5% 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.
About 25 minutes each way for Five Forks’ commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Five Forks workers work from home, vs 12% across South Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 6,751 commuters (the 19% 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 distance from Five Forks to work
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.
Five Forks is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Five Forks is more walkable than 46% of U.S. towns, #91 of 169 in South Carolina. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 2.4% across South Carolina.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 8,360 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 5.3% of Five Forks households have no vehicle (South Carolina 5.7%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Five Forks’ commuters take a bus or train.
Five Forks is 145th of 1,915 U.S. towns of 13,000 to 25,000 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 38 | Tega Cay SC | 14,457 | $142K | 1.5% | 2.2% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 143 | Cascade Township MI | 20,201 | $136K | 4.6% | 2.6% | 14% | A+ |
| 144 | Upper St. Clair Township PA | 20,466 | $163K | 2.5% | 3.5% | 8% | A+ |
| 145 | Five Forks SC | 18,656 | $142K | 2.5% | 3.0% | 4% | A+ |
| 146 | Idylwood VA | 17,559 | $120K | 5.5% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| 147 | Jarvis Township IL | 16,209 | $118K | 2.1% | 2.8% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 736 | Hanahan SC | 22,415 | $88K | 11.7% | 2.5% | 5% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 839 | Wade Hampton SC | 20,898 | $77K | 7.2% | 4.0% | 5% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,915 | 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 Five Forks, 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 Five Forks: questions
What is the median household income in Five Forks?
$141,786 (±$10,807) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,324 across South Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Five Forks?
2.5%, against 14.1% across South Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Five Forks?
25 minutes each way on average, against 26 across South Carolina and 26 nationally. 19% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Five Forks work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Greenville (25%, 8 mi), Mauldin (5%, 5 mi), Greer (3%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Five Forks walkable?
Five Forks is more walkable than 46% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.6 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Five Forks without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Five Forks, from the people who make the trip.
More of Five Forks
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.