Obediah Shirley House · Photo: Bill Fitzpatrick · CC BY-SA 3.0Honea Path ranks among the lowest-earning U.S. towns by household income
Household incomes here are among the lowest in the country. Poverty touches 33.6% of residents, next to 14.1% for South Carolina as a whole. The two grades for Honea Path are D− for jobs and income and B for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Honea Path apart on work
The better-paid jobs are outside Honea Path
56% of Honea Path residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 30% of the jobs based in Honea Path pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 96% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
Many jobs in Honea Path pay little
33% of the jobs based in Honea Path pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. The jobs ↓
Honea Path workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 31 minutes each way, against 26 across South Carolina. Over a year that’s about 238 hours of commuting, 38 more than the state’s typical 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.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Honea Path
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Honea Path is better than 5% of U.S. towns, #158 of 168 in South Carolina. Job access by car holds Honea Path’s grade up (ahead of 47% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (15.5%, U.S. 5.2%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Honea Path could be anywhere from D− to C.
What Honea Path’s employers do
678 jobs are based in Honea Path.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Honea Path, 2013 → 2023: 511 → 678. 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 Honea Path’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 31 minutes in Honea Path
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Honea Path workers work from home, vs 12% across South Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 973 commuters (the 13% 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.
Who commutes out of Honea Path, and who commutes in
On a workday 1,516 residents head out to work, 69 work right here, and 609 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,000 people are in Honea Path on a workday afternoon, 23% fewer than live here.
0.43 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.
10% of working residents work in Anderson
Where Honea Path clocks in
10% of workers
9% of workers
3% 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.
Honea Path’s commute, mile by mile
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.
Driving is how Honea Path gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Honea Path is more walkable than 58% of U.S. towns, #62 of 169 in South Carolina. Both inputs place Honea Path 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 1,115 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 20% 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). 5.6% of Honea Path households have no vehicle (South Carolina 5.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 3% of Honea Path’s commuters take a bus or train.
Honea Path next to U.S. towns of 2,800 to 5,300
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 91 | Isle of Palms SC | 4,377 | $157K | 2.5% | 1.3% | 13% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 103 | India Hook SC | 3,960 | $107K | 1.2% | 0.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 501 | Golden Grove SC | 2,913 | $73K | 3.1% | 1.6% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,901 | Citronelle AL | 3,897 | $44K | 22.5% | 10.0% | 13% | D− |
| 3,902 | Lansford PA | 4,123 | $45K | 23.8% | 21.2% | 3% | D− |
| 3,903 | Honea Path SC | 3,950 | $33K | 33.6% | 15.5% | 4% | D− |
| 3,904 | Mathis TX | 4,312 | $35K | 29.5% | 10.4% | 19% | D− |
| 3,905 | Hearne TX | 4,719 | $37K | 27.3% | 15.3% | 18% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,084 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Honea Path, 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 Honea Path: questions
What is the median household income in Honea Path?
$32,900 (±$22,662) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,324 across South Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Honea Path?
33.6%, against 14.1% across South Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Honea Path?
31 minutes each way on average, against 26 across South Carolina and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Honea Path work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Anderson (10%, 15 mi), Greenville (9%, 27 mi), Greenwood (3%, 22 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Honea Path walkable?
Honea Path is more walkable than 58% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 7.1 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Honea Path without a car?
3% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Honea Path, from the people who make the trip.
More of Honea Path
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.