Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0Making a living in Peak
2% of workers work from home (South Carolina 12%). Hardly any work in Peak itself; outside it, Newberry draws the most (19%, 16 miles). Employers in Peak report 25 jobs for 32 working residents.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Who leaves Peak for work, and who comes in
On a workday 32 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 25 people come in from elsewhere.
About 47 people are in Peak on a workday afternoon, 13% fewer than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.78 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.
Where Peak’s working residents head each day
Where Peak clocks in
19% of workers
9% 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.
Mostly health care, schools and offices in Peak
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Peak, 2013 → 2023: 4 → 25. 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 Peak’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Working from home in Peak
of Peak workers work from home, vs 12% across South Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 51 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Peak
About 23% 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 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 Peak: questions
What is the median household income in Peak?
$138,472 (±$118,108) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,324 across South Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Peak?
3.7%, against 14.1% across South Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
Where do people who live in Peak work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Newberry (19%, 16 mi), Lexington (9%, 18 mi), Columbia (6%, 28 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Peak without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Peak, from the people who make the trip.
More of Peak
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.