Photo: Efy96001 · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in McColl are among the lowest of any U.S. town
Jobs and income earn McColl D−; getting around on foot earns it C+. Household incomes here are among the lowest in the country. 41.9% of residents are in poverty (South Carolina 14.1%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in McColl, in brief
A big share show a job far from home
31% 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 ↓
Many jobs in McColl pay little
26% of the jobs based in McColl pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. The jobs ↓
Few McColl workers work from home
Only 2% of workers work from home, against 12% across South Carolina. Almost everyone here travels to a job. 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; with 827 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How McColl earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, McColl is better than 3% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds McColl’s grade up (ahead of 32% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($26,638, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (9.0%) is left out: McColl’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income and poverty, McColl stays D−.
How far McColl goes to work
About 31% 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 work there is in McColl: 302 jobs
302 jobs are based in McColl.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in McColl, 2013 → 2023: 219 → 302. 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 McColl’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from McColl: about 26 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of McColl workers work from home, vs 12% across South Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 544 commuters (the 2% 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.
The daily flow of workers through McColl
On a workday 794 residents head out to work, 33 work right here, and 269 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,400 people are in McColl on a workday afternoon, 27% fewer than live here.
0.37 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.
11% of working residents work in Laurinburg
Where McColl clocks in
11% of workers
11% 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.
Most of McColl commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, McColl is more walkable than 41% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 2.4% across South Carolina, on an EPA index of 4.4.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 556 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). 29.1% of McColl households have no vehicle (South Carolina 5.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of McColl’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 1,400 to 2,700, and where McColl sits
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 297 | Pimlico SC | 1,765 | $137K | 4.8% | 0.0% | 0% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 303 | Sullivan's Island SC | 1,961 | $193K | 8.8% | 1.5% | 9% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 427 | Folly Beach SC | 2,081 | $102K | 4.0% | 2.1% | 13% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 5,193 | Mountain View MO | 2,661 | $39K | 29.4% | 6.2% | 23% | D− |
| 5,194 | Enfield NC | 1,777 | $35K | 20.7% | 21.4% | 3% | D− |
| 5,195 | McColl SC | 1,974 | $27K | 41.9% | 9.0% | 4% | D− |
| 5,196 | Memphis TX | 1,969 | $48K | 17.3% | 10.3% | 23% | D− |
| 5,197 | Woodville TX | 2,339 | $46K | 18.9% | 10.8% | 28% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,509 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 McColl, 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 McColl: questions
What is the median household income in McColl?
$26,638 (±$7,106) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,324 across South Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in McColl?
41.9%, against 14.1% across South Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from McColl?
26 minutes each way on average, against 26 across South Carolina and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in McColl work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Laurinburg (11%, 8 mi), Bennettsville (11%, 8 mi), Cheraw (5%, 21 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is McColl walkable?
McColl is more walkable than 41% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 4.4 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around McColl without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 29% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from McColl, from the people who make the trip.
More of McColl
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.