Hopkins has 0.1 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Household incomes here are lower than in 88% of U.S. towns. Employers in Hopkins report 110 jobs, against 1,034 working residents. The two grades for Hopkins are C− for jobs and income and C for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Hopkins and work: the main findings
Hopkins is a place people come home to
There are 110 jobs based in Hopkins, about one for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Hopkins has about 1,100 people in it, 47% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Home offices are common in Hopkins
26% of Hopkins workers work from home, against 12% across South Carolina. Time on the road ↓
Hopkins and Columbia trade workers both ways
Columbia is the top workplace for Hopkins residents (31%) and also where the most people who work in Hopkins come from (14% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Hopkins
On income, poverty and job access, Hopkins is better than 21% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Hopkins’ grade up (ahead of 69% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (25.7%, U.S. 12.5%).
Unemployment (31.1%) is left out: Hopkins’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Hopkins could be anywhere from D to B−.
How a workday changes Hopkins
On a workday 1,025 residents head out to work, 9 work right here, and 101 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,100 people are in Hopkins on a workday afternoon, 47% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
The daily trip from Hopkins: about 27 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Hopkins workers work from home, vs 12% across South Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 493 commuters (the 26% who work from home are left out). Across South Carolina: 86% drive alone, <1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
31% of working residents work in Columbia
Where Hopkins clocks in
31% of workers
3% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
In Hopkins, services account for most jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Hopkins, 2014 → 2024: 135 → 110. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Hopkins’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute from Hopkins, by distance
About 18% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Hopkins is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Hopkins is more walkable than 33% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 2.4% across South Carolina, on an EPA index of 3.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 665 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.7 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 53% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 15.9% of Hopkins households have no vehicle (South Carolina 5.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 4% of Hopkins’ commuters take a bus or train.
Hopkins is 3,976th of 5,509 U.S. towns of 1,400 to 2,700 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 297 | Pimlico SC | 1,765 | $137K | 4.8% | 0.0% | 0% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 303 | Sullivan's Island SC | 1,961 | $193K | 8.8% | 1.5% | 9% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 427 | Folly Beach SC | 2,081 | $102K | 4.0% | 2.1% | 9% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,974 | Okanogan WA | 2,494 | $69K | 10.3% | 6.5% | 20% | C− |
| 3,975 | Sebago ME | 1,995 | $78K | 13.7% | 6.4% | 5% | C− |
| 3,976 | Hopkins SC | 1,985 | $50K | 25.7% | 31.1% | 1% | C− |
| 3,977 | De Pue IL | 1,571 | $58K | 14.6% | 7.5% | 1% | C− |
| 3,978 | Caryville TN | 2,217 | $56K | 18.4% | 8.6% | 2% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,509 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 61% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Hopkins, the top three, the last and three more from South Carolina.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Hopkins: questions
What is the median household income in Hopkins?
$50,063 (±$26,785) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,324 across South Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Hopkins?
25.7%, against 14.1% across South Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Hopkins?
27 minutes each way on average, against 26 across South Carolina and 26 nationally. 26% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Hopkins work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Columbia (31%, 10 mi), Woodfield (3%, 12 mi), West Columbia (3%, 15 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Hopkins walkable?
Hopkins is more walkable than 33% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 3.2 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Hopkins without a car?
4% of commuters take transit and 16% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Hopkins, from the people who make the trip.
More of Hopkins
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.