Brandon Mill · Photo: John Foxe · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in Parker earn less than those in 96% of U.S. towns
The trip to work takes 24 minutes on average (South Carolina 26, U.S. 26). Below the poverty line: 29.6% of residents, where South Carolina as a whole has 14.1%. Jobs and income earn Parker C−; getting around on foot earns it B+.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Parker, in a few figures
Parker’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Parker is better than 18% of U.S. towns, #122 of 168 in South Carolina. Job access by car holds Parker’s grade up (ahead of 82% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($40,043, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Parker could be anywhere from D to C.
The kinds of work in Parker
2,418 jobs are based in Parker.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Parker, 2013 → 2023: 2,588 → 2,418. 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 Parker’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who works in Parker, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 4,789 residents head out to work, 98 work right here, and 2,320 people come in from elsewhere.
About 10,000 people are in Parker on a workday afternoon, 19% fewer than live here.
0.49 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.
27% of working residents work in Greenville
Where Parker clocks in
27% 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.
The trip to work from Parker: about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Parker workers work from home, vs 12% across South Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,965 commuters (the 15% 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 Parker
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 commute in Parker is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Parker is more walkable than 73% of U.S. towns, #30 of 169 in South Carolina. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.9% 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 5,863 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 77% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 6% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.7 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 65% 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). 7.5% of Parker households have no vehicle (South Carolina 5.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Parker’s commuters take a bus or train.
Parker next to U.S. towns of 9,000 to 17,000: 2,100th 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− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,098 | Potomac Park CA | 10,138 | $51K | 20.9% | 11.4% | 2% | C− |
| 2,099 | Murphysboro Township IL | 9,333 | $53K | 13.9% | 6.7% | 19% | C− |
| 2,100 | Parker SC | 12,898 | $40K | 29.6% | 7.0% | 2% | C− |
| 2,101 | Golden Hills CA | 9,891 | $96K | 17.6% | 11.6% | 7% | C− |
| 2,102 | Fort Campbell North KY | 11,356 | $59K | 11.7% | 17.4% | 4% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 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 Parker, the top three, the last and three more from South Carolina.
Work next door: 27% of Parker’s workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Parker workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parker | – | C− | B+ | 24 min | $40,043 |
| Greenville | 27% | B− | A | 19 min | $71,472 |
| Berea | under 2% | C− | C+ | 25 min | $49,829 |
| City View | under 2% | — | — | 16 min | — |
| Sans Souci | under 2% | C+ | A− | 23 min | $45,069 |
| Welcome | under 2% | B− | B | 28 min | $66,094 |
| Judson | under 2% | D | B− | 26 min | $38,646 |
Same-state neighbors only. City View: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Greenville. Darker towns draw more of Parker’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 Parker: questions
What is the median household income in Parker?
$40,043 (±$5,132) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,324 across South Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Parker?
29.6%, against 14.1% across South Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Parker?
24 minutes each way on average, against 26 across South Carolina and 26 nationally. 15% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Parker work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Greenville (27%, 5 mi), Mauldin (4%, 10 mi), Wade Hampton (2%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Parker walkable?
Parker is more walkable than 73% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 12.2 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Parker without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. 6% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Parker, from the people who make the trip.
More of Parker
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.