Work & commute · Forest Acres

Work & commute in Forest Acres, SC

Most working residents leave Forest Acres for work: only 5% work in town. The top destinations are Columbia (40%), Cayce (2%) and West Columbia (2%). Half commute less than 6 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

232 of 4,813 working residents

Typical commute

6 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

20 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

12%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 4,581 Forest Acres residents head out of town to work, 232 work right here, and 5,464 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Forest Acres.

4,581live here, work elsewhere

232live and work here

5,464work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Forest Acres goes to work

Columbia4.3 mi away

40%1,937

Forest Acres (in town)right here

5%232

Cayce6.9 mi away

2%117

West Columbia7.8 mi away

2%111

Dentsville3.1 mi away

2%106

Seven Oaks9.6 mi away

2%87

Lexington14.5 mi away

2%79

Woodfield3 mi away

2%78

St. Andrews7.7 mi away

1%56

Greenville96.7 mi away

1%55

Everywhere elseother towns and states

41%1,955

Lines run between town centers; a thicker line means more commuters. The top 10 towns each way.

How far

How far Forest Acres commutes

Straight-line distance from home to work, for every working resident. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.

68%

12%

17%

68%Under 10 mi

12%10–24 mi

4%25–50 mi

17%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Forest Acres is balanced between jobs and homes

1.18jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (1.18 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in Forest Acres are

5,696 jobs are based in Forest Acres. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Forest Acres’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Forest Acres

5,696 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)3%

Trade, transport & utilities20%

Services (health, schools, offices…)77%

$1,250 a month or less24%

$1,251–$3,333 a month35%

Over $3,333 a month41%

Jobs Forest Acres residents hold

4,813 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)10%

Trade, transport & utilities16%

Services (health, schools, offices…)74%

$1,250 a month or less14%

$1,251–$3,333 a month22%

Over $3,333 a month64%

−42%

Jobs based in Forest Acres, 2013 → 2023: 9,825 → 5,696. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.

About these numbers

How to read this page

Every worker, home to workThe Census links each worker’s home block to their main job’s block, for jobs covered by unemployment insurance. That’s most jobs, but not the self-employed.

Where the employer saysA job counts where the employer reports it. Some big employers report one address for many sites, which can make a few commutes look longer than they are.

Two surveysFlows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2023. Commute time and working from home: the Census American Community Survey.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs; American Community Survey 5-year estimates.