Photo: Evanoco · CC BY-SA 4.0How Scranton works: jobs, income and commuting
Employers in Scranton report 138 jobs, and 234 of its residents work somewhere. Hardly any stay in Scranton for work; outside it, Florence is the main destination (17%, 18 miles). The average commute takes 23 minutes each way; South Carolina averages 26, the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
How many people are in Scranton by day
On a workday 234 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 138 people come in from elsewhere.
About 560 people are in Scranton on a workday afternoon, 15% fewer than live here.
0.59 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Commuting out of Scranton: the destinations
Where Scranton clocks in
17% of workers
9% 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.
Services make up most of the work in Scranton
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Scranton, 2013 → 2023: 210 → 138. 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 Scranton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 23 minutes each way for Scranton’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Scranton workers work from home, vs 12% across South Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 215 commuters (the 16% 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 Scranton
About 27% 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 Scranton: questions
What is the median household income in Scranton?
$27,344 (±$6,481) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,324 across South Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Scranton?
33.9%, against 14.1% across South Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Scranton?
23 minutes each way on average, against 26 across South Carolina and 26 nationally. 16% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Scranton work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Florence (17%, 18 mi), Lake City (9%, 4 mi), Columbia (3%, 67 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Scranton without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 19% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Scranton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Scranton
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.