Photo: Bill Fitzpatrick · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Gaffney are lower than in 95% of U.S. towns
For jobs and income Gaffney is better than 10% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns (A−). Below the poverty line: 29.1% of residents, next to 14.1% across South Carolina. About one in seven work in Gaffney; the top destination outside it is Spartanburg (6%, 17 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Gaffney apart on work
Gaffney draws workers from far and wide
The 6,898 jobs in Gaffney are filled from a wide area. Gaffney’s own residents hold 13% and the ten next-biggest home towns 11%; the other 76% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
No single place dominates Gaffney’s commute
The biggest draw, Spartanburg, gets only 6% of working residents, and 64% work outside the top ten towns entirely. Gaffney residents fan out across the region. The commute map ↓
Commutes from Gaffney 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.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Gaffney
Job access by car holds Gaffney’s grade up (ahead of 62% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Gaffney stays D.
Where Gaffney goes to work
Where Gaffney clocks in
6% of workers
4% 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 19 minutes to work from Gaffney
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Gaffney workers work from home, vs 12% across South Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,401 commuters (the 5% 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 workday shuffle in and out of Gaffney
On a workday 4,730 residents head out to work, 914 work right here, and 5,984 people come in from elsewhere.
About 14,000 people are in Gaffney on a workday afternoon, 10% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.22 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.
What Gaffney’s employers do
6,898 jobs are based in Gaffney.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Gaffney, 2013 → 2023: 7,153 → 6,898. 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 Gaffney’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute from Gaffney, by distance
About 18% 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.
Gaffney is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 4,627 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). 9.2% of Gaffney households have no vehicle (South Carolina 5.7%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Gaffney’s commuters take a bus or train.
Gaffney next to U.S. towns of 9,000 to 17,000
| # | 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 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 64 | Tega Cay SC | 14,457 | $142K | 1.5% | 2.2% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 233 | James Island SC | 12,660 | $104K | 5.6% | 1.2% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 727 | Powdersville SC | 10,771 | $85K | 9.3% | 1.7% | 6% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,250 | Red Bluff CA | 14,404 | $52K | 18.8% | 7.2% | 27% | D |
| 2,251 | Sylacauga AL | 12,055 | $50K | 21.0% | 6.7% | 19% | D |
| 2,252 | Gaffney SC | 12,583 | $41K | 29.1% | 10.6% | 16% | D |
| 2,253 | Bonham TX | 11,263 | $58K | 21.7% | 9.4% | 22% | D |
| 2,254 | Fallsburg NY | 15,156 | $62K | 24.9% | 8.5% | 20% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 2,354 | 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 Gaffney, the top three, the last and three more from South Carolina.
Gaffney and the towns next door
The biggest share goes to East Gaffney (2%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Gaffney workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gaffney | – | D | A− | 19 min | $41,089 |
| East Gaffney | 2% | C | C− | 24 min | $25,227 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Gaffney’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 Gaffney: questions
What is the median household income in Gaffney?
$41,089 (±$3,009) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,324 across South Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Gaffney?
29.1%, against 14.1% across South Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Gaffney?
19 minutes each way on average, against 26 across South Carolina and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Gaffney work?
16% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Spartanburg (6%, 17 mi), Charlotte (4%, 48 mi), East Gaffney (2%, 2 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Gaffney walkable?
Gaffney is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.4 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Gaffney 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 Gaffney, from the people who make the trip.
More of Gaffney
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.