Photo: Bernardgeorgeh · CC BY-SA 4.0Pelion draws 510 commuters a day, with 2.0 jobs for every working resident
Employers in Pelion report 517 jobs, and 257 of its residents work somewhere. Only 3% work in Pelion; the top destination outside it is Columbia (12%, 27 miles). The average commute takes 32 minutes each way, where South Carolina has 26 and the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Pelion and work: the main findings
Pelion makes and builds things
75% of the jobs based in Pelion are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Pelion residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 25%. The jobs ↓
Pelion is where the jobs are
Pelion has 517 jobs, 2.0 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 890 people are in town, 42% more than the 630 who live here. Day and night ↓
Pelion’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Pelion is Columbia, 27 miles away as the crow flies. 12% of working residents (30) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
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 257 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Making and building: 75% of jobs based in Pelion
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Pelion, 2013 → 2023: 587 → 517. 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 Pelion’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A workday in Pelion: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 250 residents head out to work and 7 work right here.
About 890 people are in Pelion on a workday afternoon, 42% more 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Pelion
About 18% 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 towns that send workers to Pelion
Where Pelion clocks in
12% of workers
8% of workers
7% 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.
Pelion’s commute takes about 32 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Pelion workers work from home, vs 12% across South Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 477 commuters (the 6% 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.
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 Pelion: questions
What is the median household income in Pelion?
$59,455 (±$19,228) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,324 across South Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Pelion?
12.9%, against 14.1% across South Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Pelion?
32 minutes each way on average, against 26 across South Carolina and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Pelion work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Columbia (12%, 27 mi), Cayce (8%, 17 mi), Lexington (7%, 15 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Pelion without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Pelion, from the people who make the trip.
More of Pelion
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.