A trip to the Comporium Telephone Museum in the heart of downtown Rock Hill starts with a look at life before the Information Age, and features a peek at the town’s very first phone. Fast forward more than 100 years, and the small South Carolina city is once again at the forefront of innovation.
Over the last few years, Rock Hill has welcomed a swarm of newcomers seeking affordable real estate from nearby Charlotte, North Carolina — many of whom still commute every day to Fortune 500 companies like Nucor and Bank of America that are headquartered in the bigger city. But the job market within Rock Hill itself is also on the upswing: Knowledge Park, the city’s buzz-worthy startup incubator and business hub, has attracted “hundreds of millions of dollars in commercial and residential investments,” according to the Charlotte Business Journal. Last year, Rock Hill’s York Technical College secured a $1.6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce to support workforce development and job creation in the manufacturing sector. And there’s more growth on the horizon: Data from Moody's Analytics shows the Rock Hill job market is poised to grow 7% over the next four years.
Beyond a burgeoning job market, Rock Hill caters to nature lovers with a 26-mile network of walking and bike trails and canoe rides down the Catawba River, and the city’s got a restaurant scene that celebrates fine dining (The Pump House) and comfort food (The Dixie Pig) in equal measure. Another plus: Rock Hill’s bus system, which launched in July 2019, is free to ride.
