Laurens vs Watts Mills

A side-by-side comparison of Laurens and Watts Mills: population, income, housing, and more.

Laurens and Watts Mills are places in South Carolina. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Laurens has the higher population (9,307 vs 2,250 in Watts Mills). Laurens has the higher median household income ($55,207 vs $47,192 in Watts Mills). Since 2019, Watts Mills's population has grown faster (+63.4% vs +5.0%).

Population, income & housing

	Laurens	Watts Mills
Population	9,307	2,250
Median age	42.2 yrs	29.5 yrs
Median household income	$55,207	$47,192
Median home value	$139,800	—
Median gross rent	$795	$818
Housing units	4,307	656
Homeownership rate	45.1%	49.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.0%	2.6%
Unemployment rate	2.5%	12.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Laurens	Watts Mills
Population	8,867 → 9,307 (+5.0%)	1,377 → 2,250 (+63.4%)
Median household income	$40,738 → $55,207 (+35.5%)	$24,091 → $47,192 (+95.9%)
Median home value	$93,700 → $139,800 (+49.2%)	$70,900 → $43,900 (-38.1%)
Median gross rent	$720 → $795 (+10.4%)	$823 → $818 (-0.6%)

Laurens

Population

8,8679,307

Median household income

$40,738$55,207

Median home value

$93,700$139,800

Median gross rent

$720$795

Watts Mills

Population

1,3772,250

Median household income

$24,091$47,192

Median home value

$70,900$43,900

Median gross rent

$823$818

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Laurens	Watts Mills
Under 5	5.9%	4.2%
5 to 17	17.9%	23.6%
18 to 24	4.7%	4.0%
25 to 34	13.0%	36.4%
35 to 44	11.2%	5.9%
45 to 54	9.3%	12.5%
55 to 64	13.6%	8.5%
65 to 74	10.7%	4.2%
75 and over	13.6%	0.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Laurens	Watts Mills
White (non-Hispanic)	54.5%	51.2%
Black or African American	34.6%	11.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.4%
Asian	0.6%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	1.9%
Two or more races	2.4%	0.0%
Hispanic or Latino	7.6%	34.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Laurens	Watts Mills
No high school diploma	19.7%	44.0%
High school graduate	33.6%	34.4%
Some college or associate's	31.7%	19.0%
Bachelor's degree	9.0%	2.6%
Graduate or professional degree	6.0%	0.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Laurens	Watts Mills
Drove alone	76.1%	58.3%
Carpooled	18.1%	40.0%
Public transit	0.1%	0.0%
Walked	0.0%	1.7%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	4.8%	0.0%
Other means	0.9%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Laurens	Watts Mills
1-unit, detached	65.6%	61.7%
1-unit, attached	4.2%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	12.4%	0.9%
5 to 19 units	11.9%	1.1%
20 or more units	2.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	3.8%	36.3%

Poverty & households

	Laurens	Watts Mills
Poverty rate	22.0%	9.2%
Average household size	2.34	3.79
Mean commute (minutes)	22	28
Median year structure built	1975	1975