Clemson is a small town where college students really create the town feel and character. So many small towns have lost population over the last 20-30 years that having the local college presence in the Clemson area, with all of the energy of the students filling area dorms and apartments each fall, really helps Clemson maintain a good economy.
Clemson, while not large, also appears to be attractive to some younger, educated professionals, who help shape the character of the city.
For a small city, Clemson has a lot of people who use public transit to get to work, and those that do mostly ride the bus. This suggests that a real need for low-cost transportation in Clemson exists, and local transit is helping to meet that need.
If knowledge is power, Clemson is a pretty powerful place. 63.24% of the adults in Clemson have earned a 4-year college degree, masters degree, MD, law degree, or even PhD. Compare that to the national average of 21.84% for all cities and towns.
The per capita income in Clemson in 2022 was $34,468, which is upper middle income relative to South Carolina, and middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $137,872 for a family of four. However, Clemson contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Clemson also has one of the higher rates of people living in poverty in the nation, with 36.04% of its population below the federal poverty line.
Clemson is a very ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Clemson home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Clemson residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Clemson include English, Irish, German, Italian, and Scottish.
The most common language spoken in Clemson is English. Other important languages spoken here include Chinese and Langs. of India.
