Photo: Bill Fitzpatrick · CC BY-SA 3.0St. Matthews has 0.7 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Jobs & income D: better than 8% of U.S. towns on income, poverty and job access.
Walkability A−: more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns.
Household incomes here are lower than in 86% of U.S. towns. Working residents average 17 minutes each way (South Carolina 26, U.S. 26). Only 6% work in St. Matthews; the top destination outside it is Columbia (8%, 27 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in St. Matthews, in brief
St. Matthews’ biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside St. Matthews is Columbia, 27 miles away as the crow flies. 8% of working residents (71) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Commutes from St. Matthews are quick
The average trip to work takes 17 minutes, against 26 across South Carolina. That’s about 69 hours a year less on the road than the typical South Carolina worker. Time on the road ↓
Fewer jobs are based in St. Matthews than ten years ago
Jobs counted in St. Matthews fell from 869 in 2013 to 592 in 2023, −32%. 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 ↓
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 901 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind St. Matthews’ Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, St. Matthews is better than 8% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds St. Matthews’ grade up (ahead of 35% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (31.1%, U.S. 12.5%).
Unemployment (8.1%) is left out: St. Matthews’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. Matthews could be anywhere from D− to C.
Half of St. Matthews commutes less than 27 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
About 25% 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.
About 17 minutes each way, quicker than most of South Carolina
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of St. Matthews workers work from home, vs 12% across South Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 679 commuters (the 13% 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.
What the 592 jobs in St. Matthews are
592 jobs are based in St. Matthews. Here is what they are, next to the jobs St. Matthews’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in St. Matthews, 2013 → 2023: 869 → 592. 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.
St. Matthews quiets down on a workday
On a workday 847 residents head out to work, 54 work right here, and 538 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,500 people are in St. Matthews on a workday afternoon, 17% fewer than live here.
0.66 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.
8% of working residents work in Columbia
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where St. Matthews clocks in
8% of workers
8% of workers
3% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
St. Matthews 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, St. Matthews is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 15.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 2.4% across South Carolina, on an EPA index of 7.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 781 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). 7.3% of St. Matthews households have no vehicle (South Carolina 5.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of St. Matthews’ commuters take a bus or train.
St. Matthews is 4,934th of 5,656 U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,500 on jobs and income
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of St. Matthews, the top three, the last and three more from South Carolina.
| # | 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 |
| … | |||||||
| 4,932 | Unionville MO | 1,663 | $61K | 18.3% | 2.7% | 30% | D |
| 4,933 | Walters OK | 2,355 | $54K | 26.8% | 3.6% | 23% | D |
| 4,934 | St. Matthews SC | 1,827 | $51K | 31.1% | 8.1% | 6% | D |
| 4,935 | Darlington WI | 2,490 | $57K | 22.1% | 8.0% | 19% | D |
| 4,936 | Corwith Township MI | 1,783 | $57K | 18.9% | 6.3% | 6% | 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.
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. Matthews: questions
What is the median household income in St. Matthews?
$51,310 (±$21,059) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,324 across South Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in St. Matthews?
31.1%, against 14.1% across South Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from St. Matthews?
17 minutes each way on average, against 26 across South Carolina and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in St. Matthews work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Columbia (8%, 27 mi), Orangeburg (8%, 13 mi), North Charleston (3%, 66 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is St. Matthews walkable?
St. Matthews is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.0 out of 20, and 15% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around St. Matthews without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from St. Matthews, from the people who make the trip.
More of St. Matthews
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.