Watts MillsSC
This town in South Carolina has a population of 1,942.
Is Watts Mills a good place to live?
Watts Mills’ best subject grade is an A for cost of living; its weakest is a D− for health. Only 13 of South Carolina’s 263 towns score lower on health. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 75% of U.S. towns. Of the 170 South Carolina towns we compare, none has a lower share of adults with a bachelor’s degree than Watts Mills. Watts Mills has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
What makes Watts Mills stand out
Where Watts Mills beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
| Widest gap | Watts Mills | SC |
|---|---|---|
| More uninsured adults | 26.9% | 11.8% |
99% of working residents leave Watts Mills for work
Where Watts Mills’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
How Watts Mills grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within South Carolina), ordered by how far Watts Mills is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Watts Mills: who provides what
Watts Mills is unincorporated, so Laurens County and regional agencies provide most services.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Sep 12, 2025.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Watts Mills.
Compared with most of South Carolina and the rest of the country, more of Watts Mills’ adults get no exercise outside work
The share of adults in Watts Mills who have been diagnosed with depression is 25%, above both South Carolina’s towns (23%) and U.S. towns (23%). Only 3 of the 170 South Carolina towns we compare have a higher share of adults who smoke cigarettes than Watts Mills. For adults in the town, the share who binge drink is 14%. The town does better than the South Carolina average on 1 of 32 CDC measures and worse on 22.
| Watts Mills | South Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 36% | 23% | 19% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 23% | 15% | 14% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 42% | 28% | 25% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 39% | 21% | 14% |
| What stands out | Watts Mills | SC |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 6% | 8.6% |
| More uninsured adults | 26.9% | 11.8% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Public schools in Watts Mills fall behind 76% of South Carolina districts
The public schools here belong to the Laurens 55 school district. Its one school is below. 423 students attend Watts Mills’s public school.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ford ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 423 | D |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within SC on state tests and graduation
Watts Mills stands out in South Carolina and nationally: a smaller share of its working residents work locally
The typical journey to work for Watts Mills comes to 27 minutes. Between 2013 and 2023, jobs in Watts Mills dropped by 315, to 43. The share of residents in Watts Mills who live below the poverty line is 8.7%, against 17% in South Carolina’s towns and 9.6% across U.S. towns. The top destinations are Laurens (9%), Greenville (6%) and Spartanburg (3%).
| Watts Mills | South Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 8.7% | 17% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 0.7% | 6.1% | 8% |
| Median household income | $51,000 | $57,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 27 minutes | 24 minutes | 25 minutes |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Low risk in Watts Mills, with inland flooding at the top
Expected damage from storms and floods is lower here than in just over three quarters of U.S. communities. Of the losses FEMA expects in Watts Mills, 36% come from inland flooding and 30% from cold waves.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Expect mild winters and hot summers in Watts Mills
For Watts Mills, the typical July afternoon high is 91°F.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The median home in Watts Mills sells for about $115K
In Watts Mills, just over two in five households live in a home they own. The going rate for rent locally is $817 a month.
| Watts Mills | South Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 42% | 65% | 73% |
| Median rent | $817 a month | $1,060 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Everything we know about Watts Mills
Colleges nearby
1 within 15 miles of the center of Watts Mills
About 3 of every 100 Watts Mills residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across South Carolina.
About Watts Mills
Census-designated place in South Carolina, United States
Wattsville is an unincorporated community in Laurens County, South Carolina, United States. The town name is derived from Watts Mill, a textile mill in the center of town. The area is listed as the Wattsville census-designated place (CDP) for statistical purposes. The population of the CDP was 1,635 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Greenville–Mauldin–Easley Metropolitan Statistical Area.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 2.3 sq mi
Watts Mills’s neighbors
One town shares a border with Watts Mills.
| Town | SC rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Watts Mills | — | — | A | — | C− | D− |
| Laurens | #143 | D | B+ | D | C− | C− |
Watts Mills has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Watts Mills reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Watts Mills with a neighbor →
Questions about Watts Mills
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Watts Mills, SC expensive?
Not for the area. The typical home is worth about $108,000, 64% below the South Carolina typical home. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades A.