Photo: User:Hughespj · Public domainGraniteville has lower household incomes than 97% of U.S. towns
Only 2% work in Graniteville; the top destination outside it is Aiken (18%, 5 miles). 37.3% of residents live below the poverty line, where South Carolina as a whole has 14.1%. Graniteville grades D 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
What sets Graniteville apart on work
Fewer jobs are based in Graniteville than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Graniteville fell from 923 in 2013 to 338 in 2023, −63%. 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 ↓
Graniteville and Aiken trade workers both ways
Aiken is the top workplace for Graniteville residents (18%) and also where the most people who work in Graniteville come from (10% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Graniteville makes and builds things
40% of the jobs based in Graniteville are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Graniteville residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 26%. The jobs ↓
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; with 929 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The four measures behind Graniteville’s grade
On income, poverty and job access, Graniteville is better than 13% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Graniteville’s grade up (ahead of 64% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
Unemployment (11.1%) is left out: Graniteville’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Graniteville could be anywhere from D to C−.
Making and building: 40% of jobs based in Graniteville
338 jobs are based in Graniteville.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Graniteville, 2013 → 2023: 923 → 338. 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 Graniteville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting out of Graniteville: the destinations
Where Graniteville clocks in
18% of workers
5% 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.
Graniteville quiets down on a workday
On a workday 911 residents head out to work, 18 work right here, and 320 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,500 people are in Graniteville on a workday afternoon, 29% fewer than live here.
0.36 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.
About 19 minutes each way for Graniteville’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Graniteville workers work from home, vs 12% across South Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 599 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.
How many miles Graniteville commutes
About 23% 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.
Graniteville is a driving town
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.3% 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 631 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). 14.7% of Graniteville households have no vehicle (South Carolina 5.7%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Graniteville’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 1,400 to 2,800, Graniteville ranks 4,700th of 5,793 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 313 | Pimlico SC | 1,765 | $137K | 4.8% | 0.0% | 0% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 319 | Sullivan's Island SC | 1,961 | $193K | 8.8% | 1.5% | 9% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 453 | Folly Beach SC | 2,081 | $102K | 4.0% | 2.1% | 13% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,698 | Oil Creek Township PA | 1,657 | $66K | 16.9% | 8.0% | 8% | D |
| 4,699 | South Sumter SC | 1,626 | $46K | 29.8% | 11.4% | 1% | D |
| 4,700 | Graniteville SC | 2,056 | $39K | 37.3% | 11.1% | 2% | D |
| 4,701 | Ina IL | 1,612 | $54K | 19.7% | 13.9% | 4% | D |
| 4,702 | Sigourney IA | 1,951 | $58K | 14.8% | 8.3% | 18% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,793 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Graniteville, the top three, the last and three more from South Carolina.
Graniteville and the towns next door
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Graniteville workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Graniteville | – | D | C− | 19 min | $38,938 |
| Warrenville | under 1% | B− | C+ | 25 min | $53,418 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Graniteville’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 Graniteville: questions
What is the median household income in Graniteville?
$38,938 (±$15,953) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,324 across South Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Graniteville?
37.3%, against 14.1% across South Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Graniteville?
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 Graniteville work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Aiken (18%, 5 mi), Augusta (12%, 21 mi), North Augusta (5%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Graniteville walkable?
Graniteville is more walkable than 18% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 5.9 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Graniteville without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 15% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Graniteville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Graniteville
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.