Photo: Tiled · CC BY-SA 3.0At 2.4%, unemployment in Greer is lower than in 79% of U.S. towns
About one in ten stay in Greer for work; outside it, Greenville is the main destination (20%, 10 miles). Greer grades B+ for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. The average commute takes 24 minutes each way, against 26 across South Carolina and 26 nationally.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Greer, in brief
Greer trades workers with the towns around it
Greer has about as many jobs (16,287) as working residents (16,605), but they are mostly different people: 15,194 residents leave for work each day while 14,876 people come in. Only 9% of the jobs in Greer are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Greer draws workers from far and wide
The 16,287 jobs in Greer are filled from a wide area. Greer’s own residents hold 9% and the ten next-biggest home towns 16%; the other 75% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Greer has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Greer went from 9,065 in 2013 to 16,287 in 2023, +80%. 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Where Greer’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Greer is better than 74% of U.S. towns, #20 of 168 in South Carolina. Unemployment holds Greer’s grade up; the poverty rate pulls it down (10.1%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on household income and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Greer could be anywhere from B to A.
Who works in Greer, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 15,194 residents head out to work, 1,411 work right here, and 14,876 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 (0.98 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 Greer’s residents
Where Greer clocks in
20% of workers
4% 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.
The kinds of work in Greer
16,287 jobs are based in Greer.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Greer, 2013 → 2023: 9,065 → 16,287. 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 Greer’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Greer: about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Greer workers work from home, vs 12% across South Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 18,146 commuters (the 15% 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.
Half of Greer commutes less than 10 miles
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.
Getting around Greer: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Greer is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns, #97 of 169 in South Carolina.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 21,409 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 under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 40% 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). 3.7% of Greer households have no vehicle (South Carolina 5.7%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Greer’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 904 U.S. towns of 35,000 to 68,000, Greer comes 377th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Upper Arlington OH | 35,893 | $155K | 3.3% | 2.0% | 7% | A+ |
| 3 | Oakton VA | 36,528 | $161K | 4.6% | 1.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 37 | Fort Mill SC | 38,673 | $122K | 4.8% | 2.3% | 15% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 178 | Bluffton SC | 36,807 | $111K | 4.3% | 2.2% | 19% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 269 | Goose Creek SC | 52,010 | $88K | 6.5% | 2.7% | 7% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 375 | The Hammocks FL | 58,838 | $86K | 12.1% | 2.7% | 5% | B+ |
| 376 | Attleboro MA | 47,447 | $99K | 8.6% | 4.7% | 15% | B+ |
| 377 | Greer SC | 50,007 | $83K | 10.1% | 2.4% | 8% | B+ |
| 378 | Lakewood Ranch FL | 43,945 | $123K | 7.4% | 3.7% | 11% | B+ |
| 379 | Annandale VA | 41,705 | $116K | 12.1% | 4.9% | 5% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 904 | 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 Greer, the top three, the last and three more from South Carolina.
Next door to Greer
The biggest share goes to Duncan (1%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Greer’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 Greer: questions
What is the median household income in Greer?
$82,626 (±$7,064) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,324 across South Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Greer?
10.1%, against 14.1% across South Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Greer?
24 minutes each way on average, against 26 across South Carolina and 26 nationally. 15% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Greer work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Greenville (20%, 10 mi), Spartanburg (4%, 17 mi), Mauldin (2%, 11 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Greer walkable?
Greer is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 7.7 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Greer without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Greer, from the people who make the trip.
More of Greer
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.