Potential Columbia to Orangeburg Commute (Sumter, West Columbia: homes, unemployment rate, school district)

[bsbarry1]

Thinking about entertaining a job in Orangeburg but would most likely want to live in Columbia area. I have grade school kids so need to identify an area good for the family, good for the kids and not too brutal a commute. Any suggestions on areas or even how the commute on 26 is south of Columbia.

Any other suggestions on Orangeburg are also welcome!

Thx

[Akhenaton06]

Because there are many more people who would make the reverse commute (Orangeburg to Columbia), you shouldn't have a bad commute. Depending on where exactly you chose to live in Columbia, I'd give the commute 30-45 minutes.

[jlboney]

Check out West Columbia or even some of Lexington that would put you close to 26 so your commute will not be so bad.

[Columbiadata]

Southeast Columbia where its zoned for Dreher H.S. in the right spot would give you quick access to I-77 to I-26 to Orangeburg. I am very familiar with Orangeburg. I was just there last Sunday. During a part of my growing up years in the southern Midlands, Orangeburg was my family's next best thing to Columbia for shopping. There are pretty homes there in certain areas, and actually a restaurant there (Four Moons or something like that) has been named in some circles as SC's best restaurant. The downtown is newly streetscaped and has beautiful fountains in the both the town square and at Edisto Memorial Gardens. The waiters and waitresses at restaurants there seem very nice and mannerly. All in all it's a nice town that has some struggles because of a large percentage of lower income residents and a high unemployment rate (around 14%). Because my mother grew up in southern Orangeburg County in the country 23 miles from Orangeburg, it has a special place in my heart. It's a pleasant place to be in general, but if the amenities of a large city are important to you, you'll be glad you only work there and don't live there.

[Buckeye in SC]

As other have said, stick to W. Columbia, Cayce or SE Columbia and you should have a 30-40 minute drive depending on how far of I-26 your job in Orangeburg is. W. Columbia & Cayce I believe pretty much are all Brookland-Cayce schools (Lexington 2?) and as Columbiadata said, SE Cola would put you either in Dreher or AC Flora HS feeder schools (the 2 best high schools - at least by reputation - in Richland 1).

[LexingtonDad]

I'd think real hard about commuting to Orangeburg from Columbia every day. While 45 minutes each way may not seen like a lot it might get old pretty quick. Especially if you get stuck in one of the traffic jams that results from a wreck. I-26 gets a lot of truck traffic to and from the coast and is a pretty heavily traveled highway 24/7.

[Columbiadata]

Good point about the wrecks, but lots of people commute that far to work every day.

[newuser2008]

the commute is not bad actually but can be boring 45 min of your life everyday.
If you live near cayce area/ airport area, you will have easy access to columbia city life and also a short commute to orangeburg via local hwy avoiding I-26. I think that is much more pleasant and a lot of people do that.

In either case, lower richland area, cayce, pineridge etc will be best place for you to live. closer to I-77/I-26 should be your criteria.

[scorpion12]

Satellite radio makes my commute bearable. I live out in Pelion and work in Sumter. A little over 1 hour 1 way for my commute and I've been doing it for 7+ years.

I would suggest Pelion to Orangeburg commute. 30 miles give or take... Pelion is in Lexington School District 1 and the schools are pretty good (if you've got kids). Pelion High School is fed by Pelion Middle School which is fed by Pelion Elementary School and Fort's Pond elementary School.

It's a nice and rural area, I-77 is just down Fish Hatchery Road or hiway 302, Orangeburg's down hiway 178 one way and I-20 is down the other end.

It takes about 30-45 minutes to get to Columbia from Pelion but Lexington is about 15-20 minutes down hiway 6.