Photo: Evanoco · CC BY-SA 4.0St. Stephen has lower household incomes than 65% of U.S. towns
Working from home is the commute for 3% of workers (South Carolina 12%). 16.5% of residents live below the poverty line, against 14.1% across South Carolina. St. Stephen grades C− for jobs and income and B− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
St. Stephen and work: the main findings
St. Stephen’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside St. Stephen is North Charleston, 35 miles away as the crow flies. 13% of working residents (74) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
St. Stephen workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 36 minutes each way, against 26 across South Carolina. Over a year that’s about 276 hours of commuting, 77 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
Few St. Stephen workers work from home
Only 3% of workers work from home, against 12% across South Carolina. Almost everyone here travels to a job. 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 574 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Income, poverty and work: St. Stephen’s grade explained
On income, poverty and job access, St. Stephen is better than 16% of U.S. towns. Household income holds St. Stephen’s grade up ($65,370, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 19% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (6.1%) is left out: St. Stephen’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. Stephen could be anywhere from D to C+.
Miles to work from St. Stephen
About 24% 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.
Each way, about 36 minutes from St. Stephen
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of St. Stephen workers work from home, vs 12% across South Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 505 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.
The daily commute in and out of St. Stephen
On a workday 555 residents head out to work, 19 work right here, and 400 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,500 people are in St. Stephen on a workday afternoon, 10% fewer than live here.
0.73 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.
13% of working residents work in North Charleston
Where St. Stephen clocks in
13% of workers
13% of workers
6% 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.
The kinds of work in St. Stephen
419 jobs are based in St. Stephen.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in St. Stephen, 2013 → 2023: 480 → 419. 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. Stephen’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute in St. Stephen is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, St. Stephen is more walkable than 49% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 3.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 2.4% across South Carolina, on an EPA index of 6.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 522 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). 17.1% of St. Stephen households have no vehicle (South Carolina 5.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of St. Stephen’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, St. Stephen is 4,613th of 6,161 U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,200
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 284 | 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 |
| … | |||||||
| 398 | Folly Beach SC | 2,081 | $102K | 4.0% | 2.1% | 13% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,611 | Palmview South TX | 1,819 | $29K | 42.7% | 15.0% | <1% | C− |
| 4,612 | Mount Olive IL | 1,936 | $56K | 17.8% | 7.9% | 7% | C− |
| 4,613 | St. Stephen SC | 1,623 | $65K | 16.5% | 6.1% | 3% | C− |
| 4,614 | Chilhowie VA | 1,599 | $51K | 13.1% | 1.7% | 9% | C− |
| 4,615 | Blair WI | 1,292 | $60K | 16.7% | 3.8% | 7% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 6,161 | 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. Stephen, the top three, the last and three more from South Carolina.
The towns around St. Stephen
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | St. Stephen workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Stephen | – | C− | B− | 36 min | $65,370 |
| Russellville | under 1% | — | — | — | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Russellville: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of St. Stephen’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 St. Stephen: questions
What is the median household income in St. Stephen?
$65,370 (±$13,677) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,324 across South Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in St. Stephen?
16.5%, against 14.1% across South Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from St. Stephen?
36 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. Stephen work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are North Charleston (13%, 34 mi), Moncks Corner (13%, 14 mi), Charleston (6%, 40 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is St. Stephen walkable?
St. Stephen is more walkable than 49% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 6.2 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around St. Stephen without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 17% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from St. Stephen, from the people who make the trip.
More of St. Stephen
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.