Photo: Bill Fitzpatrick · CC BY-SA 3.0Newberry’s household incomes are lower than in 86% of U.S. towns
Poverty touches 31.5% of residents, where South Carolina as a whole has 14.1%. Newberry grades D for jobs and income and B for walkability. For 3% of workers, the job is at home (South Carolina 12%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Newberry, in brief
Newberry draws workers from far and wide
The 5,420 jobs in Newberry are filled from a wide area. Newberry’s own residents hold 15% and the ten next-biggest home towns 10%; the other 75% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
No single place dominates Newberry’s commute
The biggest draw, Columbia, gets only 7% of working residents, and 64% work outside the top ten towns entirely. Newberry residents fan out across the region. The commute map ↓
Few Newberry workers work from home
Only 3% of workers work from home, against 12% across South Carolina. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Newberry
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Newberry is better than 10% of U.S. towns, #143 of 168 in South Carolina. Job access by car holds Newberry’s grade up (ahead of 45% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Newberry could be anywhere from D to C−.
7% of working residents work in Columbia
Where Newberry clocks in
7% of workers
2% of workers
2% 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.
Each way, about 24 minutes from Newberry
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Newberry workers work from home, vs 12% across South Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,704 commuters (the 3% 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.
Newberry fills up on a workday
On a workday 3,371 residents head out to work, 827 work right here, and 4,593 people come in from elsewhere.
About 12,000 people are in Newberry on a workday afternoon, 11% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.29 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
The kinds of work in Newberry
5,420 jobs are based in Newberry.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Newberry, 2013 → 2023: 6,973 → 5,420. 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 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Newberry’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Newberry’s commute, mile by mile
About 24% 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 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
The commute in Newberry is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Newberry is more walkable than 58% of U.S. towns, #63 of 169 in South Carolina. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 2.4% across South Carolina.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 3,827 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 12.6% of Newberry households have no vehicle (South Carolina 5.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Newberry’s commuters take a bus or train.
Newberry and other U.S. towns of 8,000 to 15,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 63 | Tega Cay SC | 14,457 | $142K | 1.5% | 2.2% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 244 | James Island SC | 12,660 | $104K | 5.6% | 1.2% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 759 | Powdersville SC | 10,771 | $85K | 9.3% | 1.7% | 6% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,364 | Arkadelphia AR | 9,916 | $49K | 28.9% | 4.2% | 36% | D |
| 2,365 | Roanoke Rapids NC | 14,386 | $54K | 18.4% | 8.1% | 27% | D |
| 2,366 | Newberry SC | 10,891 | $51K | 31.5% | 6.9% | 20% | D |
| 2,367 | Muskegon Heights MI | 9,770 | $35K | 34.1% | 14.7% | 4% | D |
| 2,368 | Georgetown SC | 8,869 | $57K | 21.9% | 9.4% | 25% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 2,507 | Roma TX | 11,543 | $25K | 37.1% | 12.4% | 22% | 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 Newberry, the top three, the last and three more from South Carolina.
How Newberry compares with the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Helena (1%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Newberry workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Newberry | – | D | B | 24 min | $51,260 |
| Helena | 1% | — | — | 16 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Helena: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Newberry’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, 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 Newberry: questions
What is the median household income in Newberry?
$51,260 (±$6,611) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,324 across South Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Newberry?
31.5%, against 14.1% across South Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Newberry?
24 minutes each way on average, against 26 across South Carolina and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Newberry work?
20% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Columbia (7%, 43 mi), Greenville (2%, 58 mi), Prosperity (2%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Newberry walkable?
Newberry is more walkable than 58% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 8.1 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Newberry without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 13% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Newberry, from the people who make the trip.
More of Newberry
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, 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.