McMakin's Tavern · Photo: Kwdavids · CC BY-SA 3.0Lyman has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.4 for each
1,317 jobs are based in Lyman, against 3,156 working residents. For jobs and income Lyman is better than 72% of U.S. towns (B+); for walkability it is more walkable than 33% of U.S. towns (C). Only 2% stay in Lyman for work; outside it, Greenville is the main destination (11%, 16 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Why Lyman gets the Jobs & income grade it does
The poverty rate is its strongest input (6.1%, U.S. 12.5%); household income ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns ($75,653, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on household income and unemployment and job access by car.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Lyman could be anywhere from C+ to A.
A workday in Lyman: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 3,100 residents head out to work, 56 work right here, and 1,261 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,300 people are in Lyman on a workday afternoon, 26% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Where Lyman goes to work
Where Lyman clocks in
11% of workers
9% 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.
What Lyman’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lyman, 2013 → 2023: 1,390 → 1,317. 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 Lyman’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 26 minutes to work from Lyman
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lyman workers work from home, vs 12% across South Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,032 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.
How far it is to work from Lyman
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.
In Lyman, most people drive to work
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.8% 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 3,466 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). 1.5% of Lyman households have no vehicle (South Carolina 5.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Lyman’s commuters take a bus or train.
Lyman next to U.S. towns of 5,000 to 9,600: 1,075th of 3,164 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 219 | Lake Murray of Richland SC | 7,023 | $119K | 2.0% | 2.3% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 950 | Blythewood SC | 7,233 | $94K | 4.8% | 5.0% | 3% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,073 | Washington Township PA | 5,222 | $86K | 3.4% | 4.8% | 6% | B+ |
| 1,074 | Basehor KS | 8,249 | $117K | 7.0% | 6.3% | 6% | B+ |
| 1,075 | Lyman SC | 7,103 | $76K | 6.1% | 3.4% | 2% | B+ |
| 1,076 | Blairstown Township NJ | 5,815 | $124K | 3.9% | 5.2% | 13% | B+ |
| 1,077 | Washington Township OH | 6,607 | $89K | 3.9% | 4.0% | 5% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,241 | Litchfield Beach SC | 9,044 | $76K | 8.5% | 1.6% | 16% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,164 | 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 Lyman, the top three, the last and three more from South Carolina.
Lyman and the towns next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
The biggest share goes to Duncan. Darker towns draw more of Lyman’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 Lyman: questions
What is the median household income in Lyman?
$75,653 (±$7,423) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,324 across South Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lyman?
6.1%, against 14.1% across South Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lyman?
26 minutes each way on average, against 26 across South Carolina and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lyman work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Greenville (11%, 16 mi), Spartanburg (9%, 12 mi), Greer (5%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Lyman walkable?
Lyman is more walkable than 33% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 6.9 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lyman without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lyman, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lyman
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.