Work & commute · Surfside Beach

Work & commute in Surfside Beach, SC

Most working residents leave Surfside Beach for work: only 11% work in town. The top destinations are Myrtle Beach (18%), Conway (7%) and Murrells Inlet (6%). Half commute less than 11 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

11%

178 of 1,611 working residents

Typical commute

11 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

20 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

13%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 1,433 Surfside Beach residents head out of town to work, 178 work right here, and 2,610 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Surfside Beach.

1,433live here, work elsewhere

178live and work here

2,610work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Surfside Beach goes to work

Myrtle Beach8.7 mi away

18%287

Surfside Beach (in town)right here

11%178

Conway16.1 mi away

7%117

Murrells Inlet5.8 mi away

6%90

Garden City2.1 mi away

4%61

North Myrtle Beach21.4 mi away

3%52

Socastee5.7 mi away

3%42

North Charleston79 mi away

2%39

Litchfield Beach12.2 mi away

2%28

Florence61.1 mi away

2%26

Everywhere elseother towns and states

43%691

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

How far

How far Surfside Beach commutes

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

47%

26%

24%

47%Under 10 mi

26%10–24 mi

3%25–50 mi

24%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Surfside Beach is a job hub

1.73jobs per working resident

A job hub

1.7 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.

The jobs

What the jobs in Surfside Beach are

2,788 jobs are based in Surfside Beach. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Surfside Beach’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Surfside Beach

2,788 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)6%

Trade, transport & utilities15%

Services (health, schools, offices…)79%

$1,250 a month or less24%

$1,251–$3,333 a month42%

Over $3,333 a month34%

Jobs Surfside Beach residents hold

1,611 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)9%

Trade, transport & utilities23%

Services (health, schools, offices…)68%

$1,250 a month or less20%

$1,251–$3,333 a month32%

Over $3,333 a month48%

+6%

Jobs based in Surfside Beach, 2013 → 2023: 2,618 → 2,788. 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.