Photo: Zach Sharpe · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes in Westminster are lower than in 95% of U.S. towns
Poverty touches 21.3% of residents; South Carolina has 14.1%. For jobs and income Westminster is better than 7% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 43% of U.S. towns (C+). Working from home is the commute for 1% of workers, next to 12% for South Carolina as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Westminster, in a few figures
Many jobs in Westminster pay little
35% of the jobs based in Westminster pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. Young workers hold many of them: 32% of all the jobs here go to people 29 or younger. The jobs ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Westminster
48% of Westminster residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 27% of the jobs based in Westminster pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 97% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
Few Westminster workers work from home
Only 1% 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; with 883 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Westminster’s Jobs & income grade
Job access by car holds Westminster’s grade up (ahead of 32% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($40,946, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (3.9%) is left out: Westminster’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Westminster could be anywhere from D− to C−.
The 360 jobs based in Westminster
360 jobs are based in Westminster.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Westminster, 2013 → 2023: 352 → 360. 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 Westminster’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Westminster, about 22 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Westminster workers work from home, vs 12% across South Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 918 commuters (the 1% 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.
Westminster quiets down on a workday
On a workday 858 residents head out to work, 25 work right here, and 335 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,000 people are in Westminster on a workday afternoon, 21% fewer than live here.
0.41 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
5% of working residents work in Walhalla
Where Westminster clocks in
5% of workers
5% 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Westminster
About 23% 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.
Westminster is a driving town
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 3.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 2.4% across South Carolina, on an EPA index of 5.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 925 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 under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 7.2% of Westminster households have no vehicle (South Carolina 5.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Westminster’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Westminster compares with U.S. towns of 1,800 to 3,400
| # | 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% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 309 | Sullivan's Island SC | 1,961 | $193K | 8.8% | 1.5% | 9% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 435 | Folly Beach SC | 2,081 | $102K | 4.0% | 2.1% | 13% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 444 | Golden Grove SC | 2,913 | $73K | 3.1% | 1.6% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,405 | Nice CA | 2,569 | $52K | 16.0% | 6.0% | 12% | D |
| 4,406 | Dudley NC | 2,305 | $42K | 35.3% | 0.7% | 3% | D |
| 4,407 | Westminster SC | 2,504 | $41K | 21.3% | 3.9% | 3% | D |
| 4,408 | Jefferson TX | 2,056 | $42K | 21.6% | 8.4% | 17% | D |
| 4,409 | Boscobel WI | 3,250 | $54K | 20.6% | 7.1% | 29% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,868 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Westminster, 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 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 Westminster: questions
What is the median household income in Westminster?
$40,946 (±$19,930) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,324 across South Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Westminster?
21.3%, against 14.1% across South Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Westminster?
22 minutes each way on average, against 26 across South Carolina and 26 nationally. 1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Westminster work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Walhalla (5%, 7 mi), Greenville (5%, 43 mi), Clemson (5%, 16 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Westminster walkable?
Westminster is more walkable than 43% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 5.3 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Westminster without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Westminster, from the people who make the trip.
More of Westminster
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.