Photo: Florence Conventions and Visitors Bureau · CC BY-SA 4.0There are 2.2 jobs in Florence for every working resident, and 30,239 people commute in
36,958 jobs are based in Florence, against 16,754 working residents. For jobs and income Florence is better than 27% of U.S. towns (C); for walkability it is more walkable than 55% of U.S. towns (B). Measured by household income, Florence is behind 80% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Florence apart on work
Florence draws workers from far and wide
The 36,958 jobs in Florence are filled from a wide area. Florence’s own residents hold 18% and the ten next-biggest home towns 7%; the other 75% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Florence is where the jobs are
Florence has 36,958 jobs, 2.2 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 61,000 people are in town, 49% more than the 41,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Florence 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.
The figures behind Florence’s Jobs & income grade
Job access by car holds Florence’s grade up (ahead of 65% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (18.9%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Florence could be anywhere from C− to C+.
The daily trip into Florence
Where Florence clocks in
3% of workers
2% of workers
1% 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.
Florence on a workday afternoon
On a workday 10,035 residents head out to work and 6,719 work right here.
About 61,000 people are in Florence on a workday afternoon, 49% more than live here.
2.2 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.
The trip to work from Florence: about 19 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Florence workers work from home, vs 12% across South Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 16,080 commuters (the 11% 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.
Florence is a services town
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Florence, 2013 → 2023: 35,105 → 36,958. 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 Florence’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far it is to work from Florence
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.
For most of Florence, work means a drive
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.8% 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 18,066 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). 9.0% of Florence households have no vehicle (South Carolina 5.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Florence’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Florence is 922nd of 1,037 U.S. towns of 29,000 to 56,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 53 | Fort Mill SC | 38,673 | $122K | 4.8% | 2.3% | 15% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 212 | Bluffton SC | 36,807 | $111K | 4.3% | 2.2% | 19% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 321 | Goose Creek SC | 52,010 | $88K | 6.5% | 2.7% | 7% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 920 | Pittsfield MA | 42,909 | $71K | 14.9% | 7.0% | 52% | C |
| 921 | Enid OK | 50,297 | $62K | 13.7% | 5.3% | 57% | C |
| 922 | Florence SC | 41,231 | $56K | 18.9% | 5.4% | 40% | C |
| 923 | Crestview FL | 31,193 | $65K | 11.2% | 5.8% | 19% | C |
| 924 | Biscayne Gardens FL | 35,472 | $55K | 22.6% | 8.6% | 2% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 1,037 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 Florence, the top three, the last and three more from South Carolina.
Around Florence: the bordering towns
The biggest share goes to Quinby (1%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Florence workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Florence | – | C | B | 19 min | $56,143 |
| Quinby | 1% | — | — | 24 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Quinby: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Florence’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.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Florence: questions
What is the median household income in Florence?
$56,143 (±$3,854) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,324 across South Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Florence?
18.9%, against 14.1% across South Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Florence?
19 minutes each way on average, against 26 across South Carolina and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Florence work?
40% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Columbia (3%, 64 mi), Darlington (2%, 10 mi), Hartsville (1%, 21 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Florence walkable?
Florence is more walkable than 55% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 7.8 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Florence without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Florence, from the people who make the trip.
More of Florence
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.