Photo: Jlvshistory · CC BY-SA 4.0Marion ranks among the lowest-earning U.S. towns by household income
The two grades for Marion are D for jobs and income and C for walkability. Measured by household income, Marion is among the lowest-earning towns in the country. Below the poverty line: 26.8% of residents, next to 14.1% for South Carolina as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Marion, in brief
Marion trades workers with the towns around it
Marion has about as many jobs (2,695) as working residents (2,312), but they are mostly different people: 1,968 residents leave for work each day while 2,351 people come in. Only 13% of the jobs in Marion are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Marion has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Marion went from 1,563 in 2013 to 2,695 in 2023, +72%. The jobs ↓
Fewer than half of Marion workers earn over $40,000 a year
39% of Marion’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 20% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
Marion’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Marion is Florence, 23 miles away as the crow flies. 12% of working residents (281) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Many jobs in Marion pay little
26% of the jobs based in Marion pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. 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.
How Marion earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Marion is better than 12% of U.S. towns, #136 of 168 in South Carolina. Unemployment holds Marion’s grade up (4.7%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($30,662, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Marion could be anywhere from D− to C.
The daily flow of workers through Marion
On a workday 1,968 residents head out to work, 344 work right here, and 2,351 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 (1.17 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.
Inside Marion’s 2,695 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Marion, 2013 → 2023: 1,563 → 2,695. 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 Marion’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The distance from Marion to work
About 27% 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.
12% of working residents work in Florence
Where Marion clocks in
12% of workers
4% 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.
The trip to work from Marion: about 26 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Marion workers work from home, vs 12% across South Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,896 commuters (the 5% 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 Marion, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Marion is more walkable than 28% of U.S. towns, #135 of 169 in South Carolina. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any 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 1,998 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). 13.8% of Marion households have no vehicle (South Carolina 5.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Marion’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Marion compares with U.S. towns of 4,200 to 8,100
| # | 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 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 79 | Isle of Palms SC | 4,377 | $157K | 2.5% | 1.3% | 13% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 215 | Lake Murray of Richland SC | 7,023 | $119K | 2.0% | 2.3% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 698 | Baxter Village SC | 4,542 | $152K | 9.2% | 4.1% | 3% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,071 | Ellenville NY | 4,201 | $43K | 35.0% | 4.5% | 14% | D |
| 3,072 | Marion VA | 5,555 | $41K | 20.7% | 4.8% | 29% | D |
| 3,073 | Marion SC | 6,028 | $31K | 26.8% | 4.7% | 15% | D |
| 3,074 | Farmville VA | 7,593 | $41K | 20.4% | 2.9% | 23% | D |
| 3,075 | Salisbury Township OH | 5,289 | $39K | 28.2% | 3.4% | 19% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 3,394 | Medina TX | 4,226 | $22K | 53.8% | 10.1% | 4% | 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 Marion, 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 Marion: questions
What is the median household income in Marion?
$30,662 (±$4,782) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,324 across South Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Marion?
26.8%, against 14.1% across South Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Marion?
26 minutes each way on average, against 26 across South Carolina and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Marion work?
15% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Florence (12%, 23 mi), Columbia (4%, 86 mi), Mullins (3%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Marion walkable?
Marion is more walkable than 28% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 7.5 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Marion without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 14% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Marion, from the people who make the trip.
More of Marion
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.