West Columbia is a medium-sized city located in the state of South Carolina. With a population of 17,618 people and 15 associated neighborhoods, West Columbia is the 30th largest community in South Carolina.Unlike some cities where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, West Columbia is neither predominantly one nor the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, West Columbia is a city of professionals, sales and office workers, and managers. There are especially a lot of people living in West Columbia who work in sales jobs (11.70%), office and administrative support (11.32%), and teaching (10.67%). Telecommuters are a relatively large percentage of the workforce: 7.84% of people work from home. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce it is high relative to the nation. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes. The education level of West Columbia citizens is very high relative to the national average among all cities (21.84%): 36.59% of adults in West Columbia have a bachelor's degree or even advanced degree. The per capita income in West Columbia in 2022 was $34,960, which is upper middle income relative to South Carolina, and middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $139,840 for a family of four. However, West Columbia contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. West Columbia is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call West Columbia home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of West Columbia residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. West Columbia also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 11.20% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in West Columbia include German, English, Irish, Scots-Irish, and African. The most common language spoken in West Columbia is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Chinese.
