Joseph H. Rainey House · Photo: Federal, likely Cecil N. McKithan · Public domainUnemployment in Georgetown (9.4%) is higher than in 93% of U.S. towns
Working from home is the commute for 2% of workers; South Carolina has 12%. For jobs and income Georgetown is better than 10% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 51% of U.S. towns (B−). Household incomes here are lower than in 78% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Georgetown at work: what stands out
Georgetown draws workers from far and wide
The 7,178 jobs in Georgetown are filled from a wide area. Georgetown’s own residents hold 13% and the ten next-biggest home towns 15%; the other 72% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Georgetown is where the jobs are
Georgetown has 7,178 jobs, 2.0 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 12,000 people are in town, 40% more than the 8,900 who live here. Day and night ↓
Fewer than half of Georgetown workers earn over $40,000 a year
42% of Georgetown’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 19% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
Few Georgetown workers work from home
Only 2% of workers work from home, against 12% across South Carolina. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
A big share show a job far from home
32% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. 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.
What’s behind Georgetown’s Jobs & income grade
Job access by car holds Georgetown’s grade up (ahead of 39% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Georgetown could be anywhere from D to C+.
The towns that send workers to Georgetown
Where Georgetown clocks in
4% of workers
4% 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.
Who commutes out of Georgetown, and who commutes in
On a workday 2,748 residents head out to work, 909 work right here, and 6,269 people come in from elsewhere.
About 12,000 people are in Georgetown on a workday afternoon, 40% more than live here.
2.0 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.
What the 7,178 jobs in Georgetown are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Georgetown, 2013 → 2023: 8,701 → 7,178. 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 Georgetown’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Time on the road from Georgetown: about 23 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Georgetown workers work from home, vs 12% across South Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,551 commuters (the 2% 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Georgetown
About 32% 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 Georgetown commutes by car
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.4% 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 3,623 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). 13.2% of Georgetown households have no vehicle (South Carolina 5.7%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Georgetown’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Georgetown sits among U.S. towns of 6,200 to 12,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 3 | Pimmit Hills VA | 6,589 | $173K | 1.6% | 1.3% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 234 | Lake Murray of Richland SC | 7,023 | $119K | 2.0% | 2.3% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 813 | Powdersville SC | 10,771 | $85K | 9.3% | 1.7% | 6% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 963 | Blythewood SC | 7,233 | $94K | 4.8% | 5.0% | 3% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,731 | Muskegon Heights MI | 9,770 | $35K | 34.1% | 14.7% | 4% | D |
| 2,732 | Norwich NY | 6,538 | $53K | 14.2% | 11.8% | 27% | D |
| 2,733 | Georgetown SC | 8,869 | $57K | 21.9% | 9.4% | 25% | D |
| 2,734 | Elkins WV | 6,622 | $44K | 17.3% | 6.5% | 36% | D |
| 2,735 | Fort Bragg CA | 6,946 | $56K | 18.2% | 6.3% | 45% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 2,907 | 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 Georgetown, 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 Georgetown: questions
What is the median household income in Georgetown?
$56,981 (±$4,638) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,324 across South Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Georgetown?
21.9%, against 14.1% across South Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Georgetown?
23 minutes each way on average, against 26 across South Carolina and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Georgetown work?
25% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Litchfield Beach (4%, 12 mi), Myrtle Beach (4%, 33 mi), North Charleston (4%, 55 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Georgetown walkable?
Georgetown is more walkable than 51% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.8 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Georgetown without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 13% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Georgetown, from the people who make the trip.
More of Georgetown
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.