State South Carolina - Population, Income & Demographics

The median income of households in South Carolina was $66,818. An estimated 5.9% of households had income below $10,000 a year and 8.3% had income of $200,000 or more.

An estimated 74.2% of households received earnings. An estimated 35.1% of households received Social Security and an estimated 27 % of households received retirement income other than Social Security. The average income from Social Security was $23,985. These income sources are not mutually exclusive; that is, some households received income from more than one source.

In 2019-2023, 14.2 % of people were in poverty. An estimated 19.7% of children under 18 were below the poverty level, compared with 10.7% of people 65 years old and over. An estimated 13.2% of people 18 to 64 years were below the poverty level.

In 2019-2023, 10.5 % of households received SNAP (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program). An estimated 51.5% of households that received SNAP had children under 18, and 37.8% of households that received SNAP had one or more people 60 years and over. An estimated 40.1% of all households receiving SNAP were families with a female householder and no spouse present.

Among the civilian noninstitutionalized population in South Carolina in 2019-2023, 90% had health insurance coverage and 10% did not have health insurance coverage. Private coverage was 66.3% and public coverage was 38.1%, respectively. The percentage of children under the age of 19 with no health insurance coverage was 5.5%.

In 2019-2023, South Carolina had a total population of 5,212,774 - 2,675,318 (51.3%) females and 2,537,456 (48.7%) males. The median age was 40.1 years. An estimated 21.6% of the population was under 18 years, 31.7% was 19 to 44 years, 25.5% was 45 to 64 years, and 18.5 % was 65 years and older.

In 2019-2023, there were 2,070,390 households in South Carolina. The average household size was 2.45 people.

Married-couple households made up 47% of the households in South Carolina while cohabiting couple households made up 5.7% of households. Female householders with no spouse or partner present were 29.5% of all households, while 17.8% of households had male householders with no spouse or partner present. Some households had one person, as 12.9% of households were male householders living alone, and 16.3% were female householders living alone, for a total of 29.2% of all households.

In South Carolina, 28.6% of all households had one or more people under the age of 18; 33% of all households had one or more people 65 years and over.

In 2019-2023, an estimated 94.4% of the people living in South Carolina were U.S. natives. 53.4% of the South Carolina population were living in the state where they were born.

Approximately 5.6% of South Carolina residents in 2019-2023 were foreign-born. 44.5% of foreign-born were naturalized U.S. citizens and an estimated 65.3 % entered the country before the year 2010.

Foreign-born residents of South Carolina come from different parts of the world. The bar graph below displays the percentage of foreign-born from each world region of birth in 2019-2023 for South Carolina.

Among people at least five years old living in South Carolina in 2019-2023, 8.2 % spoke a language other than English at home. Spanish was spoken by 5.2% of people at least five years old; 3% reported that they did not speak English "very well."

In 2019-2023, 86.9 % of the people at least one year old living in South Carolina were living in the same house one year earlier.

In 2019-2023, 89.6 % of people 25 years and over had at least graduated from high school and 31.5% had a bachelor's degree or higher. An estimated 10.4% did not complete high school.

The total school enrollment in South Carolina was 1,192,995 in 2019-2023. Nursery school enrollment was 62,880 and kindergarten through 12th grade enrollment was 833,502. College or graduate school enrollment was 296,613.

In South Carolina, among the civilian noninstitutionalized population in 2019-2023, 14.4 % reported a disability. The likelihood of having a disability varied by age - from 4.9% of people under 18 years old, to 12% of people 18 to 64 years old, and to 33.6% of those 65 and over.

In South Carolina, 56.6 % of the population 16 and over were employed; 39.5% were not currently in the labor force.

An estimated 78.7% of the people employed were private wage and salary workers; 15.3% were federal, state, or local government workers; and 5.8 % were self-employed in their own (not incorporated) business.

In 2019-2023, the civilian employed population 16 years and older in South Carolina worked in the following industries:

An estimated 77.9% of South Carolina workers drove to work alone in 2019-2023, and 8.4% carpooled. Among those who commuted to work, it took them on average 25.6 minutes to get to work.

In 2019-2023, South Carolina had a total of 2,401,638 housing units. Of these housing units, 67.8% were single-family houses either not attached to any other structure or attached to one or more structures (commonly referred to as "townhouses" or "row houses"). 17.5% of the housing units were located in multi-unit structures, or those buildings that contained two or more apartments. 14.7% were mobile homes, while any remaining housing units were classified as "other," which included boats, recreational vehicles, vans, etc.

16.3% of the housing inventory was comprised of houses built since 2010, while 3.7% of the houses were first built in 1939 or earlier. The median number of rooms in all housing units in South Carolina was 5.7 rooms, and of these housing units 69.9% had three or more bedrooms.

In 2019-2023, South Carolina had 2,070,390 housing units that were occupied or had people living in them, while the remaining 331,248 were vacant. Of the occupied housing units, the percentage of these houses occupied by owners (also known as the homeownership rate) was 71.4% while renters occupied 28.6%. The average household size of owner-occupied houses was 2.51 and in renter-occupied houses it was 2.31.

10.2% of householders of these occupied houses had moved into their house since 2021, while 10.5% moved into their house in 1989 or earlier. Households without a vehicle available for personal use comprised 5.7% and another 23.4% had three or more vehicles available for use.

The following chart provides the primary fuel used to heat houses in South Carolina:

In 2019-2023, the median property value for owner-occupied houses in South Carolina was $236,700.

Of the owner-occupied households, 57.5 % had a mortgage. 42.5% owned their houses "free and clear," that is without a primary mortgage or loan on the house. The median monthly housing costs for owners with a mortgage was $1,475 and for owners without a mortgage it was $433.

For renter-occupied houses, the median gross rent for South Carolina was $1,126. Gross rent includes the monthly contract rent and any monthly payments made for electricity, gas, water and sewer, and any other fuels to heat the house.