Photo: Dr. Blazer · CC BY-SA 4.0About two in five of Forest Acres’ working residents commute to Columbia
Forest Acres grades B+ for jobs and income and A− for walkability. Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 3.4 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 9.4 in Columbia. Only 5% work in Forest Acres; the top destination outside it is Columbia (40%, 4 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Forest Acres
Forest Acres trades workers with the towns around it
Forest Acres has about as many jobs (5,696) as working residents (4,813), but they are mostly different people: 4,581 residents leave for work each day while 5,464 people come in. Only 4% of the jobs in Forest Acres are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
40% of Forest Acres works in Columbia
1,937 working residents, 40%, have their main job in Columbia, 4.3 miles away across the town line. That’s 8 times as many as work in Forest Acres itself. The commute map ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Forest Acres than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Forest Acres fell from 9,825 in 2013 to 5,696 in 2023, −42%. 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 ↓
Forest Acres draws workers from far and wide
The 5,696 jobs in Forest Acres are filled from a wide area. The ten biggest home towns of its workers supply 28%; the other 68% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Most Forest Acres residents work close to home
68% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about two in three. 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.
Jobs & income in Forest Acres: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Forest Acres is better than 69% of U.S. towns, #29 of 168 in South Carolina. Job access by car is its strongest input (ahead of 85% of U.S. towns); unemployment ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (4.1%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate and unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Forest Acres could be anywhere from B− to A.
Forest Acres by day and by night
On a workday 4,581 residents head out to work, 232 work right here, and 5,464 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 (1.18 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 towns that employ Forest Acres’ residents
Where Forest Acres clocks in
40% of workers
2% of workers
2% 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.
What the 5,696 jobs in Forest Acres are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Forest Acres, 2013 → 2023: 9,825 → 5,696. 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 Forest Acres’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute from Forest Acres, by distance
About 17% 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.
Commuting from Forest Acres: about 20 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Forest Acres workers work from home, vs 12% across South Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,614 commuters (the 12% 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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Forest Acres
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Forest Acres is more walkable than 79% of U.S. towns, #19 of 169 in South Carolina. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, above 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 5,270 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 69% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 20% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 3.4 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 77% 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). 3.9% of Forest Acres households have no vehicle (South Carolina 5.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Forest Acres’ commuters take a bus or train.
Forest Acres places 1,167th of 2,878 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 7,000 to 14,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 224 | Lake Murray of Richland SC | 7,023 | $119K | 2.0% | 2.3% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 268 | James Island SC | 12,660 | $104K | 5.6% | 1.2% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 821 | Powdersville SC | 10,771 | $85K | 9.3% | 1.7% | 6% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,165 | Carlisle Township OH | 7,131 | $87K | 5.8% | 5.7% | 3% | B+ |
| 1,166 | Milton VT | 10,646 | $119K | 3.6% | 6.0% | 13% | B+ |
| 1,167 | Forest Acres SC | 10,390 | $78K | 8.2% | 4.1% | 5% | B+ |
| 1,168 | Fairview TN | 10,877 | $91K | 11.6% | 3.3% | 5% | B+ |
| 1,169 | Salem Township KS | 9,673 | $73K | 11.6% | 1.8% | 2% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,878 | 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 Forest Acres, the top three, the last and three more from South Carolina.
The towns next door employ 44% of Forest Acres
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Forest Acres workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forest Acres | – | B+ | A− | 20 min | $78,306 |
| Columbia | 40% | C− | A+ | 18 min | $55,529 |
| Dentsville | 2% | C | A | 23 min | $45,473 |
| Arcadia Lakes | under 2% | — | — | 20 min | — |
| Woodfield | 2% | C− | B+ | 23 min | $45,526 |
Same-state neighbors only. Arcadia Lakes: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Columbia. Darker towns draw more of Forest Acres’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 Forest Acres: questions
What is the median household income in Forest Acres?
$78,306 (±$11,068) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,324 across South Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Forest Acres?
8.2%, against 14.1% across South Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Forest Acres?
20 minutes each way on average, against 26 across South Carolina and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Forest Acres work?
5% work in town.
Is Forest Acres walkable?
Forest Acres is more walkable than 79% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 11.7 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Forest Acres without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 20% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Forest Acres, from the people who make the trip.
More of Forest Acres
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.