Shell Point has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.1 for each
Employers in Shell Point report 91 jobs, against 865 working residents. Shell Point grades B+ for jobs and income and C− for walkability. Hardly any stay in Shell Point for work; outside it, Beaufort is the main destination (25%, 6 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Shell Point apart on work
Shell Point is a place people come home to
There are 91 jobs based in Shell Point, about one for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Shell Point has about 670 people in it, 54% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Shell Point and Beaufort trade workers both ways
Beaufort is the top workplace for Shell Point residents (25%) and also where the most people who work in Shell Point come from (18% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Commutes from Shell Point are quick
The average trip to work takes 20 minutes, against 26 across South Carolina. That’s about 46 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; with 865 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Shell Point
On income, poverty and job access, Shell Point is better than 73% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Shell Point’s grade up (3.1%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 44% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
Unemployment (6.4%) is left out: Shell Point’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Shell Point could be anywhere from B− to A−.
Who commutes out of Shell Point, and who commutes in
On a workday 860 residents head out to work, 5 work right here, and 86 people come in from elsewhere.
About 670 people are in Shell Point on a workday afternoon, 54% fewer 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.
Where Shell Point goes to work
Where Shell Point clocks in
25% 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.
Shell Point’s commute takes about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Shell Point workers work from home, vs 12% across South Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 567 commuters (the 10% 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.
30% of the jobs in Shell Point make or build things
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Shell Point, 2013 → 2023: 172 → 91. 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 Shell Point’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far it is to work from Shell Point
About 22% 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.
Shell Point is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Shell Point is more walkable than 21% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 2.4% across South Carolina.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 632 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). 3.1% of Shell Point households have no vehicle (South Carolina 5.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Shell Point’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Shell Point ranks: 902nd of 5,877 U.S. towns of 1,000 to 1,900
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 240 | Pimlico SC | 1,765 | $137K | 4.8% | 0.0% | 0% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 467 | Cane Savannah SC | 1,551 | $132K | 4.6% | 11.8% | 0% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 900 | Center Harbor NH | 1,049 | $104K | 2.0% | 2.8% | 4% | B+ |
| 901 | Spafford NY | 1,596 | $111K | 5.8% | 1.2% | 2% | B+ |
| 902 | Shell Point SC | 1,439 | $82K | 3.1% | 6.4% | 1% | B+ |
| 903 | Pleasant Hill OH | 1,270 | $72K | 3.4% | 4.2% | 4% | B+ |
| 904 | Lovett Township IN | 1,047 | $94K | 0.9% | 0.0% | 2% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,336 | Elgin SC | 1,675 | $92K | 4.2% | 7.3% | 2% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 5,877 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Shell Point, the top three, the last and three more from South Carolina.
Shell Point and its neighbors: 16% work next door
The biggest share goes to Burton (9%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Shell Point workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shell Point | – | B+ | C− | 20 min | $81,630 |
| Port Royal | 7% | B+ | A− | 14 min | $74,870 |
| Burton | 9% | B− | C | 26 min | $68,063 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Shell Point’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 Shell Point: questions
What is the median household income in Shell Point?
$81,630 (±$15,989) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,324 across South Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Shell Point?
3.1%, against 14.1% across South Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Shell Point?
20 minutes each way on average, against 26 across South Carolina and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Shell Point work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Beaufort (25%, 6 mi), Burton (9%, 4 mi), Port Royal (7%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Shell Point walkable?
Shell Point is more walkable than 21% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 6.8 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Shell Point without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Shell Point, from the people who make the trip.
More of Shell Point
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.