Photo: Bill Fitzpatrick · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Manning earn less than in almost any other U.S. town
17.7% of residents live below the poverty line, against 14.1% across South Carolina. Measured by household income, Manning is among the lowest-earning towns in the country. The two grades for Manning 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 Manning apart on work
Manning is where the jobs are
Manning has 3,119 jobs, 2.5 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 5,700 people are in town, 48% more than the 3,800 who live here. Day and night ↓
Fewer than half of Manning workers earn over $40,000 a year
44% of Manning’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 21% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
A big share show a job far from home
30% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
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 Manning
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Manning is better than 8% of U.S. towns, #147 of 168 in South Carolina. Job access by car holds Manning’s grade up (ahead of 31% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($28,569, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Manning could be anywhere from D− to C+.
How many people are in Manning by day
On a workday 1,002 residents head out to work, 266 work right here, and 2,853 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,700 people are in Manning on a workday afternoon, 48% more than live here.
2.5 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
What work there is in Manning: 3,119 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Manning, 2013 → 2023: 2,661 → 3,119. 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 Manning’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Near or far: the trip to work from Manning
About 30% 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.
Where Manning’s workforce comes from
Where Manning clocks in
8% of workers
4% of workers
4% 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.
Getting to work from Manning takes about 25 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Manning workers work from home, vs 12% across South Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,058 commuters (the 8% 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.
For most of Manning, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Manning is more walkable than 65% of U.S. towns, #49 of 169 in South Carolina. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.2% 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 1,144 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). 22.1% of Manning households have no vehicle (South Carolina 5.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Manning’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Manning compares with U.S. towns of 2,700 to 5,200
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 90 | Isle of Palms SC | 4,377 | $157K | 2.5% | 1.3% | 13% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 102 | India Hook SC | 3,960 | $107K | 1.2% | 0.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 514 | Golden Grove SC | 2,913 | $73K | 3.1% | 1.6% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,968 | Nicholson MS | 3,146 | $50K | 25.4% | 12.2% | 2% | D |
| 3,969 | Mitchell IN | 4,019 | $49K | 20.7% | 7.4% | 17% | D |
| 3,970 | Manning SC | 3,829 | $29K | 17.7% | 7.2% | 21% | D |
| 3,971 | Tulia TX | 4,242 | $32K | 31.9% | 4.2% | 33% | D |
| 3,972 | Stephenson WI | 3,654 | $57K | 14.4% | 8.3% | 10% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,264 | 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 Manning, 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 Manning: questions
What is the median household income in Manning?
$28,569 (±$5,287) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,324 across South Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Manning?
17.7%, against 14.1% across South Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Manning?
25 minutes each way on average, against 26 across South Carolina and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Manning work?
21% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Sumter (8%, 20 mi), North Charleston (4%, 54 mi), Florence (4%, 41 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Manning walkable?
Manning is more walkable than 65% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.5 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Manning without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 22% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Manning, from the people who make the trip.
More of Manning
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.