Photo: Bernardgeorgeh · CC BY-SA 4.0Oak Grove has 0.3 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
1,551 jobs are based in Oak Grove; 5,750 of its residents have a job. Oak Grove grades B+ for jobs and income and C for walkability. Only 1% work in Oak Grove itself; outside it, Columbia draws the most (23%, 15 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Oak Grove apart on work
Most Oak Grove residents work close to home
64% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about two in three. How far ↓
Oak Grove is a place people come home to
There are 1,551 jobs based in Oak Grove, about three for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Oak Grove has about 8,100 people in it, 34% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
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.
The four measures behind Oak Grove’s grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Oak Grove is better than 70% of U.S. towns, #28 of 168 in South Carolina. Unemployment holds Oak Grove’s grade up (2.0%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down (12.6%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Oak Grove could be anywhere from B− to A.
Oak Grove’s commute, mile by mile
About 17% 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.
The workday shuffle in and out of Oak Grove
On a workday 5,666 residents head out to work, 84 work right here, and 1,467 people come in from elsewhere.
About 8,100 people are in Oak Grove on a workday afternoon, 34% 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 the trip to work from Oak Grove ends
Where Oak Grove clocks in
23% of workers
6% of workers
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.
What Oak Grove’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Oak Grove, 2013 → 2023: 1,385 → 1,551. 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 Oak Grove’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 22 minutes in Oak Grove
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Oak Grove workers work from home, vs 12% across South Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,303 commuters (the 12% 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.
Most trips from Oak Grove start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Oak Grove is more walkable than 28% of U.S. towns, #133 of 169 in South Carolina. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.5% 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 6,012 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 42% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 4.1% of Oak Grove households have no vehicle (South Carolina 5.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Oak Grove’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 9,000 to 17,000, Oak Grove ranks 990th of 2,354 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 64 | Tega Cay SC | 14,457 | $142K | 1.5% | 2.2% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 233 | James Island SC | 12,660 | $104K | 5.6% | 1.2% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 727 | Powdersville SC | 10,771 | $85K | 9.3% | 1.7% | 6% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 988 | Cedar Lake IN | 16,789 | $83K | 3.5% | 5.5% | 6% | B+ |
| 989 | Plainville MA | 10,175 | $104K | 7.4% | 6.4% | 6% | B+ |
| 990 | Oak Grove SC | 12,256 | $75K | 12.6% | 2.0% | 1% | B+ |
| 991 | Robinson TX | 13,028 | $99K | 3.7% | 6.6% | 5% | B+ |
| 992 | Alden NY | 10,262 | $91K | 5.0% | 5.5% | 13% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,354 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Oak Grove, the top three, the last and three more from South Carolina.
Oak Grove and its neighbors
The biggest share goes to West Columbia (6%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Oak Grove workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oak Grove | – | B+ | C | 22 min | $74,554 |
| West Columbia | 6% | C+ | B+ | 20 min | $56,912 |
| Springdale | under 2% | B+ | B+ | 19 min | $77,722 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Oak Grove’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 Oak Grove: questions
What is the median household income in Oak Grove?
$74,554 (±$8,342) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,324 across South Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Oak Grove?
12.6%, against 14.1% across South Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Oak Grove?
22 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 Oak Grove work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Columbia (23%, 15 mi), Cayce (6%, 7 mi), West Columbia (6%, 3 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Oak Grove walkable?
Oak Grove is more walkable than 28% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 6.8 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Oak Grove without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Oak Grove, from the people who make the trip.
More of Oak Grove
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.