Table Rock, South CarolinaPhoto: mostateparks, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Downtown in Greenville County, South CarolinaPhoto: P. Hughes, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Courthouse in Greenville County, South CarolinaPhoto: P. Hughes, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Cost of living in South Carolina

Rent, income, home value and property tax for South Carolina, home to 5.3M people, then the same for each of its 46 counties. Every figure is the published one, with its source named.

Median rent: $1,180; Census ACS, B25064, monthly
Median household income: $69,324; Census ACS, B19013, yearly
Median home value: $259,000; Census ACS, B25077
Median property tax bill: $1,251; Census ACS, B25103, yearly, current owners
Mean commute: 26 min; Census ACS, DP03, one way
Unemployment: 4.9%; Census ACS, DP03

South Carolina's own published state rows, never an average of its counties. Prices overall run 6% below the national average (BEA regional price parity, 2024).

Census ACS 2024 five-year estimates, checked November 2026.

The three most populous counties in South Carolina

These are the most populous places in South Carolina, not a match to you. Set what matters to you on Find your fit and this becomes your three closest matches here. Made-up answers work too. This is a tool, not a survey.

Greenville County
Population
548K
Rent
$1,262
Household income
$76,932
Prop. tax (yearly)
$1,512
Plan
Richland County
Population
422K
Rent
$1,228
Household income
$63,784
Prop. tax (yearly)
$1,637
Plan
Charleston County
Population
420K
Rent
$1,620
Household income
$88,494
Prop. tax (yearly)
$1,901
Plan

South Carolina, worth the trip

Ratified the Constitution on May 23, 1788, as the eighth state. The English established a permanent settlement in 1670 and Charleston grew into a commercial hub for rice and indigo. South Carolina was the first state to secede from the Union, on December 20, 1860.

Congaree National Park
The largest intact expanse of old growth bottomland hardwood forest in the Southeast, on the Congaree River floodplain.
Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park
Two forts at the entrance of Charleston Harbor, one of them fired on at the start of the Civil War.
Kings Mountain National Military Park
The site of the patriot victory of October 7, 1780, in the Revolutionary War.

History: Encyclopaedia Britannica. Each place links to the page of the agency that looks after it.

Property tax in South Carolina

Current owners in South Carolina pay a median 0.48% of home value a year in property tax. Example: $1,251 a year, the median bill. By county, the median bill runs from $436 in Marion County to $2,174 in Beaufort County. These are bills that current owners pay, as the Census measures them. Each county's own figure is in the table below.

A buyer in South Carolina should expect a higher bill than these: a sale counts as an assessable transfer of interest, so the 15% cap ends and the home is valued at market value as of December 31 of the sale year. Source: Georgetown County Assessor, assessable transfer of interest.

Health in South Carolina

Life expectancy: 74.7 yrs; County Health Rankings, from CDC NCHS vital statistics
No health insurance: 11.0%; County Health Rankings, from Census SAHIE, people under 65
Poor or fair health: 16.3%; County Health Rankings, from CDC BRFSS. Modeled, not counted
Injury deaths per 100K people: 107; County Health Rankings, from CDC NCHS, counted deaths

Each is the figure County Health Rankings publishes for South Carolina as a whole, never an average of its counties. Each county's own health readings are on its page.

Natural hazards in South Carolina

Expected yearly loss, statewide: $3.0B; All natural hazards, an average year. Larger states lose more
Building loss rate: $2.26; Per $1,000 of building value, each year. Fair to compare between states
Costliest hazard: Hurricane; $1.2B of the expected yearly loss, the largest share of any hazard FEMA assesses
Air quality: —; The EPA publishes air quality by county and metro area, never by state. It is on each county's page

FEMA publishes a risk score for counties and none for states, so none is shown here. Each county's score is on its own page.

New homes permitted in South Carolina

Permitted in 2025

45,862homes

Per 1,000 residents

8.7

Single-family · larger buildings

39,897 · 5,965

42K2020
51K2021
46K2022
42K2023
47K2024
46K2025

South Carolina approved permits for 45,862 new homes in 2025. That is about 8.7 homes for every 1,000 people. 39,897 were single-family houses, and 5,965 were in buildings with two or more homes. From 2020 to 2025 the yearly count stayed between 42,340 and 50,680.

2nd of the 50 states and DC by homes permitted per 1,000 residents in 2025.

A permit lets a home be built. It does not mean the home is finished. Some offices did not report, so part of this figure is a Census estimate. The offices that did report account for 38,204. Source: US Census Building Permits Survey, annual 2025 data.

Side by side

Greenville County, SC is the largest county here. Set it beside another place, reading by reading.

The largest counties in South Carolina

By population, from the Census release named below. Each opens its own page.

All 46 counties in South Carolina

Each has its published readings on its own page. Press a column to sort by it. Pick one, or open the map to see them shaded side by side.


Abbeville County	$799	$52,935	$178,800	$782	24.4K	157
Aiken County	$1,062	$70,609	$218,000	$897	174K	1,959
Allendale County	$662	$32,328	$76,200	$669	7,661	4
Anderson County	$989	$66,651	$231,900	$1,043	210K	1,493
Bamberg County	$815	$44,370	$97,800	$811	13K	24
Barnwell County	$740	$46,626	$106,000	$775	20.5K	31
Beaufort County	$1,653	$86,573	$455,600	$2,174	195K	1,219
Berkeley County	$1,654	$84,358	$310,300	$1,400	247K	2,299
Calhoun County	$1,052	$58,682	$172,100	$704	14.2K	38
Charleston County	$1,620	$88,494	$489,100	$1,901	420K	3,392
Cherokee County	$869	$50,288	$142,000	$614	56.6K	286
Chester County	$853	$52,458	$158,300	$890	32.2K	310
Chesterfield County	$762	$49,235	$116,200	$487	43.8K	117
Clarendon County	$763	$52,401	$158,000	$883	31K	114
Colleton County	$949	$51,114	$162,500	$900	38.8K	73
Darlington County	$896	$48,581	$158,200	$652	62.6K	205
Dillon County	$679	$46,605	$85,400	$452	27.9K	41
Dorchester County	$1,463	$78,198	$329,300	$1,851	167K	1,596
Edgefield County	$720	$73,029	$202,700	$875	27.5K	194
Fairfield County	$938	$47,885	$151,200	$776	20.6K	74
Florence County	$954	$58,305	$177,900	$756	137K	697
Georgetown County	$1,204	$68,713	$289,500	$1,190	64.8K	377
Greenville County	$1,262	$76,932	$299,000	$1,512	548K	4,947
Greenwood County	$898	$52,830	$180,500	$964	69.5K	310
Hampton County	$843	$44,711	$112,000	$897	18.3K	17
Horry County	$1,255	$66,880	$287,700	$944	383K	6,511
Jasper County	$1,328	$65,613	$325,500	$1,852	32.2K	1,858
Kershaw County	$971	$68,231	$217,100	$1,013	68.3K	509
Lancaster County	$959	$78,869	$329,900	$1,657	104K	1,110
Laurens County	$880	$57,623	$170,600	$698	68.7K	869
Lee County	$823	$44,760	$104,600	$599	16.2K	22
Lexington County	$1,178	$77,408	$234,500	$1,151	305K	2,006
Marion County	$669	$36,301	$93,200	$436	28.7K	71
Marlboro County	$689	$34,301	$82,000	$496	26K	6
McCormick County	$696	$55,798	$168,700	—	9,760	119
Newberry County	$872	$61,780	$173,300	$1,154	38.4K	160
Oconee County	$881	$62,388	$237,100	$899	80.5K	753
Orangeburg County	$841	$45,675	$115,800	$749	83.3K	107
Pickens County	$972	$61,064	$231,900	$866	135K	946
Richland County	$1,228	$63,784	$242,800	$1,637	422K	3,382
Saluda County	$851	$51,009	$146,500	$747	19.1K	61
Spartanburg County	$1,084	$66,234	$233,300	$1,274	348K	3,986
Sumter County	$1,057	$56,693	$165,300	$881	105K	358
Union County	$804	$41,621	$103,600	$579	26.9K	373
Williamsburg County	$765	$46,213	$104,500	$687	30.3K	35
York County	$1,387	$89,095	$361,300	$1,740	294K	2,646

Household income, home value and population are on each county's own page, and in this table on a wider screen.

Where these numbers come from

Each reading is the published figure, not an estimate. A dash means the source did not publish one, or published one too uncertain to print.

State figures: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 20245-year estimates, the state's own row (tables B25064, B19013, B25077, B25103, B01003, DP03).
County figures: the same survey, each county's own row, as on every county page.
Price level: Bureau of Economic Analysis, regional price parities, 2024, all items, state-level.
Health: County Health Rankings & Roadmaps 2025, University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, the state's own row. Poor or fair health is a modeled estimate from CDC survey data. The other three are counted or calculated.
Natural hazards: FEMA National Risk Index, December 2025, state table, expected annual loss. This product uses FEMA data but is not endorsed by FEMA.
Air quality has no state figure: the EPA publishes it by county and metro area only.
Photographs: Wikimedia Commons and the county photo feed, each credited to its photographer under its own licence, beneath the picture.

What to do with these numbers

Every number here is public. The site adds your side of it: South Carolina next to your own state, by what you value.

See South Carolina beside your own state
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Pick a county here and make it your target
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See the three counties

South Carolina at a glance

The three most populous counties in South Carolina

Greenville County

Richland County

Charleston County