Photo: Evanoco · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in Yemassee have lower incomes than those in 93% of U.S. towns
Below the poverty line: 27.3% of residents, where South Carolina as a whole has 14.1%. For jobs and income Yemassee is better than 3% of U.S. towns (D−); for walkability it is more walkable than 50% of U.S. towns (B−). Only 5% stay in Yemassee for work; outside it, Beaufort is the main destination (10%, 19 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Yemassee
Yemassee makes and builds things
56% of the jobs based in Yemassee are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Yemassee residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 14%. The jobs ↓
Yemassee workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 39 minutes each way, against 26 across South Carolina. Over a year that’s about 299 hours of commuting, 100 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
A big share show a job far from home
34% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
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; with 609 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The four measures behind Yemassee’s grade
All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Yemassee’s grade.
Unemployment (7.3%) is left out: Yemassee’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, Yemassee could be anywhere from D− to D.
Yemassee makes things: 56% of its jobs are in goods
492 jobs are based in Yemassee.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Yemassee, 2014 → 2024: 357 → 492. 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 Yemassee’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 39 minutes in Yemassee
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 12.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Yemassee workers work from home, vs 12% across South Carolina. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 441 commuters (the 9% 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.
How many miles Yemassee commutes
About 34% 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.
Who leaves Yemassee for work, and who comes in
On a workday 581 residents head out to work, 28 work right here, and 464 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,000 people are in Yemassee on a workday afternoon, 10% fewer than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.81 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Where Yemassee goes to work
Where Yemassee clocks in
10% 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.
Driving is how Yemassee gets around
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 3.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 2.4% across South Carolina, on an EPA index of 5.9.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 485 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). 15.7% of Yemassee households have no vehicle (South Carolina 5.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Yemassee’s commuters take a bus or train.
Yemassee next to U.S. towns of 800 to 1,500
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 531 | Shell Point SC | 1,439 | $82K | 3.1% | 6.4% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 873 | Meggett SC | 1,484 | $98K | 11.0% | 2.0% | 6% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,069 | Edisto Beach SC | 1,071 | $86K | 2.5% | 5.8% | 9% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 3,528 | Laurie MO | 1,087 | $50K | 20.0% | 10.5% | 15% | D− |
| 3,529 | Comanche OK | 1,393 | $41K | 26.6% | 4.1% | 10% | D− |
| 3,530 | Yemassee SC | 1,145 | $45K | 27.3% | 7.3% | 5% | D− |
| 3,531 | Naples TX | 1,409 | $35K | 25.7% | 11.3% | 5% | D− |
| 3,532 | Kilmarnock VA | 1,457 | $40K | 23.1% | 2.8% | 16% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,771 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 1% | 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 Yemassee, the top three, the last and three more from South Carolina.
Next door to Yemassee
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Yemassee workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yemassee | – | D− | B− | 39 min | $44,896 |
| Sheldon | under 3% | — | — | 32 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Sheldon: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Yemassee’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 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 Yemassee: questions
What is the median household income in Yemassee?
$44,896 (±$9,336) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $69,324 across South Carolina and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Yemassee?
27.3%, against 14.1% across South Carolina and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Yemassee?
39 minutes each way on average, against 26 across South Carolina and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Yemassee work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Beaufort (10%, 19 mi), Bluffton (4%, 33 mi), Burton (4%, 20 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Yemassee walkable?
Yemassee is more walkable than 50% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 5.9 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Yemassee without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 16% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Yemassee, from the people who make the trip.
More of Yemassee
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.