Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0Whitmire has lower household incomes than 97% of U.S. towns
2% of workers have no commute at all, against 12% across South Carolina. 24.3% of residents live below the poverty line (South Carolina 14.1%). For jobs and income Whitmire is better than 4% of U.S. towns (D−); for walkability it is more walkable than 9% of U.S. towns (D).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Whitmire, in a few figures
Whitmire is a place people come home to
There are 113 jobs based in Whitmire, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Whitmire has about 1,000 people in it, 31% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Whitmire workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 38 minutes each way, against 26 across South Carolina. Over a year that’s about 291 hours of commuting, 92 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
Few Whitmire 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; with 572 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The four measures behind Whitmire’s grade
Job access by car holds Whitmire’s grade up (ahead of 22% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($37,837, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (7.4%) is left out: Whitmire’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, Whitmire could be anywhere from D− to D.
Whitmire on a workday afternoon
On a workday 558 residents head out to work, 14 work right here, and 99 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,000 people are in Whitmire on a workday afternoon, 31% fewer than live here.
0.20 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.
Each way, about 38 minutes from Whitmire
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 12.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Whitmire workers work from home, vs 12% across South Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 433 commuters (the 2% 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.
10% of working residents work in Newberry
Where Whitmire clocks in
10% of workers
6% of workers
4% 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.
What the 113 jobs in Whitmire are
113 jobs are based in Whitmire.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Whitmire, 2013 → 2023: 77 → 113. 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 Whitmire’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many miles Whitmire commutes
About 20% 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.
In Whitmire, most people drive to work
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 0.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 2.4% across South Carolina, on an EPA index of 4.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 444 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). 20.6% of Whitmire households have no vehicle (South Carolina 5.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Whitmire’s commuters take a bus or train.
Whitmire and other U.S. towns of 1,000 to 2,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 263 | Pimlico SC | 1,765 | $137K | 4.8% | 0.0% | 0% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 268 | Sullivan's Island SC | 1,961 | $193K | 8.8% | 1.5% | 9% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 507 | Cane Savannah SC | 1,551 | $132K | 4.6% | 11.8% | 0% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,871 | Shelbina MO | 1,550 | $48K | 20.6% | 0.5% | 26% | D− |
| 5,872 | Powhatan Point OH | 1,407 | $49K | 21.4% | 6.7% | 4% | D− |
| 5,873 | Whitmire SC | 1,475 | $38K | 24.3% | 7.4% | 2% | D− |
| 5,874 | Weber City VA | 1,221 | $48K | 20.3% | 0.7% | 4% | D− |
| 5,875 | Gold Hill Township IL | 1,345 | $50K | 18.8% | 3.9% | 8% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 6,308 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Whitmire, 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 Whitmire: questions
What is the median household income in Whitmire?
$37,837 (±$18,172) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,324 across South Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Whitmire?
24.3%, against 14.1% across South Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Whitmire?
38 minutes each way on average, against 26 across South Carolina and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Whitmire work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Newberry (10%, 16 mi), Columbia (6%, 52 mi), Clinton (4%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Whitmire walkable?
Whitmire is more walkable than 9% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 4.0 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Whitmire without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 21% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Whitmire, from the people who make the trip.
More of Whitmire
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.