Photo: Pompusmaximus Brad West · Public domainFew U.S. towns have household incomes as low as St. George’s
Measured by household income, St. George is among the lowest-earning towns in the country. 28.4% of residents live below the poverty line; South Carolina has 14.1%. Jobs and income earn St. George D−; getting around on foot earns it B.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in St. George
St. George has far more jobs than workers
St. George has 2,217 jobs, 3.0 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 3,400 people are in town, 80% more than the 1,900 who live here. Day and night ↓
St. George’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside St. George is North Charleston, 35 miles away as the crow flies. 11% of working residents (81) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
The biggest group of St. George’s workers comes from Summerville
236 of the people who work in St. George live in Summerville, 26 miles away, more than from any other town. The commute map ↓
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 729 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Why St. George gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty and job access, St. George is better than 4% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds St. George’s grade up (ahead of 31% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($33,125, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (0.6%) is left out: St. George’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, St. George could be anywhere from D− to D.
Who commutes out of St. George, and who commutes in
On a workday 622 residents head out to work, 107 work right here, and 2,110 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,400 people are in St. George on a workday afternoon, 80% more than live here.
3.0 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
St. George’s commute, mile by mile
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.
Where the people who work in St. George live
Where St. George clocks in
11% of workers
5% of workers
4% 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.
St. George is a services town
2,217 jobs are based in St. George.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in St. George, 2013 → 2023: 2,096 → 2,217. 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 St. George’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting to work from St. George takes about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of St. George workers work from home, vs 12% across South Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 634 commuters (the 3% 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.
Driving is how St. George gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, St. George is more walkable than 62% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 2.4% across South Carolina, on an EPA index of 6.6.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 655 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 25.0% of St. George households have no vehicle (South Carolina 5.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of St. George’s commuters take a bus or train.
St. George and other U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,500
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 285 | Pimlico SC | 1,765 | $137K | 4.8% | 0.0% | 0% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 289 | Sullivan's Island SC | 1,961 | $193K | 8.8% | 1.5% | 9% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 410 | Folly Beach SC | 2,081 | $102K | 4.0% | 2.1% | 13% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 5,211 | Sardis MS | 1,670 | $32K | 40.7% | 16.3% | 5% | D− |
| 5,212 | Wynnewood OK | 1,957 | $40K | 22.1% | 1.6% | 21% | D− |
| 5,213 | St. George SC | 1,868 | $33K | 28.4% | 0.6% | 15% | D− |
| 5,214 | Gate City VA | 2,000 | $43K | 16.7% | 1.3% | 16% | D− |
| 5,215 | Saltville VA | 1,760 | $49K | 25.2% | 5.9% | 11% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,656 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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 St. George, 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 St. George: questions
What is the median household income in St. George?
$33,125 (±$19,051) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,324 across South Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in St. George?
28.4%, against 14.1% across South Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from St. George?
20 minutes each way on average, against 26 across South Carolina and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in St. George work?
15% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are North Charleston (11%, 35 mi), Charleston (5%, 43 mi), Summerville (4%, 26 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is St. George walkable?
St. George is more walkable than 62% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 6.6 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around St. George without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 25% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from St. George, from the people who make the trip.
More of St. George
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.