Walnut Grove Plantation · Photo: P. Hughes · CC BY 4.0Unemployment in Roebuck (1.6%) is lower than in 89% of U.S. towns
Household incomes here are lower than in 86% of U.S. towns. For jobs and income Roebuck is better than 56% of U.S. towns (B); for walkability it is more walkable than 28% of U.S. towns (C). Only 2% work in Roebuck itself; outside it, Spartanburg draws the most (22%, 5 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Roebuck: the figures worth knowing
Roebuck trades workers with the towns around it
Roebuck has about as many jobs (1,242) as working residents (1,068), but they are mostly different people: 1,050 residents leave for work each day while 1,224 people come in. Only 1% of the jobs in Roebuck are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Jobs in Roebuck have more than doubled in ten years
Jobs based in Roebuck went from 573 in 2013 to 1,242 in 2023, +117%. The jobs ↓
Roebuck makes and builds things
43% of the jobs based in Roebuck are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Roebuck residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 24%. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Roebuck are quick
The average trip to work takes 21 minutes, against 26 across South Carolina. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical South Carolina worker. 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Roebuck
Unemployment holds Roebuck’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($51,204, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on job access by car.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Roebuck could be anywhere from C to A−.
Roebuck on a workday afternoon
On a workday 1,050 residents head out to work, 18 work right here, and 1,224 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.16 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.
Factories, building and farms: 43% of the jobs in Roebuck
1,242 jobs are based in Roebuck.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Roebuck, 2013 → 2023: 573 → 1,242. 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 Roebuck’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 21 minutes to work from Roebuck
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Roebuck workers work from home, vs 12% across South Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,570 commuters (the 9% 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.
Out of Roebuck to work: where people go
Where Roebuck clocks in
22% 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Roebuck
About 15% 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.
Few in Roebuck walk, bike or ride to work
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,727 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). 0.6% of Roebuck households have no vehicle (South Carolina 5.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Roebuck’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Roebuck is 2,030th of 4,882 U.S. towns of 2,000 to 3,900
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 490 | Folly Beach SC | 2,081 | $102K | 4.0% | 2.1% | 13% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 502 | Golden Grove SC | 2,913 | $73K | 3.1% | 1.6% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 668 | Keowee Key SC | 3,351 | $125K | 2.1% | 2.6% | 7% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,028 | Thornton NH | 2,895 | $90K | 9.2% | 1.3% | 6% | B |
| 2,029 | Smithville-Sanders IN | 3,299 | $75K | 5.6% | 4.4% | 2% | B |
| 2,030 | Roebuck SC | 2,902 | $51K | 11.2% | 1.6% | 2% | B |
| 2,031 | Bellevue IA | 2,317 | $79K | 9.7% | 1.8% | 19% | B |
| 2,032 | Olive Township IN | 3,418 | $82K | 5.6% | 7.4% | 16% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 4,882 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 12% | 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 Roebuck, the top three, the last and three more from South Carolina.
Roebuck and its neighbors
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Roebuck’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 Roebuck: questions
What is the median household income in Roebuck?
$51,204 (±$9,327) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,324 across South Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Roebuck?
11.2%, against 14.1% across South Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Roebuck?
21 minutes each way on average, against 26 across South Carolina and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Roebuck work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Spartanburg (22%, 5 mi), Greenville (5%, 23 mi), Southern Shops (3%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Roebuck walkable?
Roebuck is more walkable than 28% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 6.2 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Roebuck without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Roebuck, from the people who make the trip.
More of Roebuck
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.