Photo: Evanoco · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes in Saluda are lower than in 94% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Saluda D; getting around on foot earns it A−. 43.9% of residents are in poverty; South Carolina has 14.1%. Home is the office for 2% of workers (South Carolina 12%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Saluda, in a few figures
Saluda trades workers with the towns around it
Saluda has about as many jobs (1,050) as working residents (1,090), but they are mostly different people: 998 residents leave for work each day while 958 people come in. Only 9% of the jobs in Saluda are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Saluda than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Saluda fell from 1,459 in 2013 to 1,050 in 2023, −28%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
Few Saluda workers work from home
Only 2% of workers work from home, against 12% across South Carolina. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
Commutes from Saluda 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.
Saluda’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Saluda is better than 14% of U.S. towns, #129 of 168 in South Carolina. Unemployment holds Saluda’s grade up (3.7%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Saluda could be anywhere from D− to C.
Who leaves Saluda for work, and who comes in
On a workday 998 residents head out to work, 92 work right here, and 958 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 (0.96 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.
Inside Saluda’s 1,050 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Saluda, 2013 → 2023: 1,459 → 1,050. 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 Saluda’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 21 minutes each way, quicker than most of South Carolina
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Saluda workers work from home, vs 12% across South Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,142 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.
Where Saluda goes to work
Where Saluda clocks in
4% of workers
3% of workers
3% 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.
Miles to work from Saluda
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.
Saluda is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Saluda is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns, #18 of 169 in South Carolina. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 8.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 2.4% across South Carolina, on an EPA index of 7.4.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,169 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). 15.6% of Saluda households have no vehicle (South Carolina 5.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Saluda’s commuters take a bus or train.
Saluda next to U.S. towns of 2,200 to 4,200: 3,873rd of 4,562 on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 95 | India Hook SC | 3,960 | $107K | 1.2% | 0.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 494 | Golden Grove SC | 2,913 | $73K | 3.1% | 1.6% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 648 | Keowee Key SC | 3,351 | $125K | 2.1% | 2.6% | 7% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,871 | Crooksville OH | 2,404 | $47K | 30.7% | 3.8% | 9% | D |
| 3,872 | Cache OK | 3,239 | $66K | 16.5% | 9.5% | 11% | D |
| 3,873 | Saluda SC | 3,086 | $43K | 43.9% | 3.7% | 8% | D |
| 3,874 | George West TX | 2,238 | $48K | 13.6% | 4.5% | 17% | D |
| 3,875 | Parker AZ | 3,394 | $66K | 12.7% | 7.4% | 28% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,562 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Saluda, the top three, the last and three more from South Carolina.
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 Saluda: questions
What is the median household income in Saluda?
$42,506 (±$11,130) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,324 across South Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Saluda?
43.9%, against 14.1% across South Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Saluda?
21 minutes each way on average, against 26 across South Carolina and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Saluda work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Greenwood (4%, 26 mi), Columbia (3%, 50 mi), Batesburg-Leesville (3%, 15 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Saluda walkable?
Saluda is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.4 out of 20, and 9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Saluda without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 16% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Saluda, from the people who make the trip.
More of Saluda
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.