Photo: Bill Fitzpatrick · CC BY-SA 3.0Fort Mill has higher household incomes than 89% of U.S. towns
For 28% of workers, the job is at home, against 12% across South Carolina. Poverty touches 4.8% of residents, against 14.1% across South Carolina. The two grades for Fort Mill are A+ for jobs and income and C+ for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Fort Mill, in brief
Jobs in Fort Mill have more than doubled in ten years
Jobs based in Fort Mill went from 5,989 in 2013 to 14,455 in 2023, +141%. The jobs ↓
A lot of Fort Mill workers cross into North Carolina
30% of Fort Mill workers work outside South Carolina, most of them in North Carolina, the Census survey finds. The commute map ↓
A lot of Fort Mill works from home
28% of Fort Mill workers work from home, against 12% across South Carolina. Time on the road ↓
Fort Mill and Charlotte trade workers both ways
Charlotte is the top workplace for Fort Mill residents (30%) and also where the most people who work in Fort Mill come from (11% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Fort Mill draws workers from far and wide
The 14,455 jobs in Fort Mill are filled from a wide area. Fort Mill’s own residents hold 12% and the ten next-biggest home towns 30%; the other 58% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
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.
Why Fort Mill gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Fort Mill is better than 96% of U.S. towns, #4 of 168 in South Carolina. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Fort Mill’s grade. It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Fort Mill could be anywhere from A to A+.
Fort Mill is a services town
14,455 jobs are based in Fort Mill.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fort Mill, 2013 → 2023: 5,989 → 14,455. 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 Fort Mill’s own residents hold wherever they work.
30% of working residents work in Charlotte
Where Fort Mill clocks in
30% of workers
9% 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.
How long Fort Mill spends getting to work: about 26 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Fort Mill workers work from home, vs 12% across South Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 10,937 commuters (the 28% 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 flow of workers through Fort Mill
On a workday 9,918 residents head out to work, 1,737 work right here, and 12,718 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 (1.24 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.
Where in the region Fort Mill works
About 19% 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.
Most of Fort Mill commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Fort Mill is more walkable than 41% of U.S. towns, #108 of 169 in South Carolina. Both inputs place Fort Mill near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 15,095 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 0.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 45% 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). 2.3% of Fort Mill households have no vehicle (South Carolina 5.7%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Fort Mill’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Fort Mill is 63rd of 1,113 U.S. towns of 27,000 to 52,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| 2 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 3 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 61 | Chesterfield MO | 49,309 | $133K | 3.9% | 3.2% | 14% | A+ |
| 62 | Marlboro Township NJ | 42,254 | $186K | 3.5% | 3.6% | 8% | A+ |
| 63 | Fort Mill SC | 38,673 | $122K | 4.8% | 2.3% | 15% | A+ |
| 64 | Parkland FL | 39,186 | $199K | 4.3% | 3.1% | 5% | A+ |
| 65 | Wilmette IL | 27,459 | $191K | 3.2% | 4.2% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 230 | Bluffton SC | 36,807 | $111K | 4.3% | 2.2% | 19% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 479 | Greer SC | 50,007 | $83K | 10.1% | 2.4% | 8% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 492 | Simpsonville SC | 28,459 | $82K | 6.1% | 4.1% | 5% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,113 | 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 Fort Mill, the top three, the last and three more from South Carolina.
Next door to Fort Mill
The biggest share goes to Baxter Village (1%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Fort Mill workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort Mill | – | A+ | C+ | 26 min | $121,823 |
| Riverview | under 1% | B+ | B | 19 min | $135,782 |
| Baxter Village | 1% | A− | A− | 20 min | $151,629 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Fort Mill’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 Fort Mill: questions
What is the median household income in Fort Mill?
$121,823 (±$6,754) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,324 across South Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Fort Mill?
4.8%, against 14.1% across South Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Fort Mill?
26 minutes each way on average, against 26 across South Carolina and 26 nationally. 28% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Fort Mill work?
15% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Charlotte (30%, 15 mi), Rock Hill (9%, 7 mi), Columbia (2%, 67 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Fort Mill walkable?
Fort Mill is more walkable than 41% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 6.8 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Fort Mill without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Fort Mill, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fort Mill
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.