Earning a living in Luray
Home is the office for 3% of workers, where South Carolina as a whole has 12%. Hardly any stay in Luray for work; outside it, Estill is the main destination (12%, 4 miles). Commuters spend 46 minutes getting to work on average, 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
The daily flow of workers through Luray
On a workday 33 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 48 people come in from elsewhere.
About 120 people are in Luray on a workday afternoon, 15% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.45 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.
Commuting out of Luray: the destinations
Where Luray clocks in
6% 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.
Goods, not services: 96% of the jobs in Luray
48 jobs are based in Luray.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Luray, 2013 → 2023: 39 → 48. 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 Luray’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Luray spends getting to work: about 46 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 14.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Luray workers work from home, vs 12% across South Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 169 commuters (the 3% 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.
Miles to work from Luray
About 36% 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.
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 Luray: questions
What is the poverty rate in Luray?
23.2%, against 14.1% across South Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Luray?
46 minutes each way on average, against 26 across South Carolina and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Luray work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Estill (12%, 4 mi), Varnville (6%, 10 mi), Hampton (6%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Luray without a car?
17% of commuters take transit and 26% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Luray, from the people who make the trip.
More of Luray
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.