Providence Methodist Church · Photo: Ammodramus · CC0A job hub: Santee has 1.9 jobs per working resident, and 775 people come in to work
Home is the office for 5% of workers, against 12% across South Carolina. Employers in Santee report 803 jobs; 416 of its residents have a job. Only 7% stay in Santee for work; outside it, North Charleston is the main destination (8%, 46 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Santee: the figures worth knowing
Santee’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Santee is North Charleston, 46 miles away as the crow flies. 8% of working residents (33) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Santee is where the jobs are
Santee has 803 jobs, 1.9 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 1,200 people are in town, 50% more than the 780 who live here. Day and night ↓
Many jobs in Santee pay little
36% of the jobs based in Santee pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. Young workers hold many of them: 30% of all the jobs here go to people 29 or younger. The jobs ↓
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 416 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Miles to work from Santee
About 34% 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.
Santee on a workday afternoon
On a workday 388 residents head out to work and 28 work right here.
About 1,200 people are in Santee on a workday afternoon, 50% 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.
Mostly health care, schools and offices in Santee
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Santee, 2013 → 2023: 967 → 803. 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 Santee’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The towns that send workers to Santee
Where Santee clocks in
8% of workers
4% 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.
From Santee, about 31 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Santee workers work from home, vs 12% across South Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 504 commuters (the 5% 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 Santee: questions
What is the median household income in Santee?
$46,667 (±$23,456) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,324 across South Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Santee?
28.3%, against 14.1% across South Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Santee?
31 minutes each way on average, against 26 across South Carolina and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Santee work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are North Charleston (8%, 46 mi), Columbia (4%, 45 mi), Orangeburg (3%, 22 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Santee without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Santee, from the people who make the trip.
More of Santee
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.