The unfortunate fact of the matter is that some places in the Palmetto State have a larger percent of their population that never graduated from high school.
While the emphasis on going to college might be overblown, the fact is that not graduating from high school puts you at a significant disadvantage on average. Educational attainment might not be the best way to measure one person’s intelligence, but it does shine a light on the state.
We will use Saturday Night Science to determine what places in South Carolina have the highest percentage of adults without a high school degree.
A recent study we published found that South Carolina is the 39th smartest state in the United States, with an average IQ of 98.
But that doesn’t mean that a few cities in South Carolina are a bit slower than others due to a lack of basic education.
#1 dumbest in South Carolina
Located in
Dillon County, South Carolina
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#2 dumbest in South Carolina
Located in
Marlboro County, South Carolina
Bennettsville is a city located in the U.S. state of South Carolina on the Great Pee Dee River. As the county seat of Marlboro County, Bennettsville is noted for its historic homes and buildings from the 19th and early 20th centuries – including the Bennettsville Historic District which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#3 dumbest in South Carolina
Located in
Greenwood County, South Carolina
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#4 dumbest in South Carolina
Located in
Laurens County, South Carolina
Laurens is a city in Laurens County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 9,139 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Laurens County.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#5 dumbest in South Carolina
Located in
Chester County, South Carolina
Chester is a small rural city in Chester County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 5,607 at the 2010 census, down from 6,476 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Chester County.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#6 dumbest in South Carolina
Located in
Newberry County, South Carolina
Newberry is a city in Newberry County, South Carolina, United States, in the Piedmont 43 miles northwest of Columbia. The charter was adopted in 1894. The population was 10,277 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Newberry County; at one time it was called Newberry Courthouse.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#7 dumbest in South Carolina
Located in
Union County, South Carolina
The city of Union is the county seat of Union County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 8,393 at the 2010 census. It is the principal city of the Union Micropolitan Statistical Area, an which includes all of Union County and which is further included in the greater Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson, South Carolina Combined Statistical Area.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#8 dumbest in South Carolina
Located in
Lancaster County, South Carolina
The city of Lancaster is the county seat of Lancaster County, South Carolina, United States, located in the Charlotte Metropolitan Area. As of the United States Census of 2010, the city population was 9,134 but due to South Carolina’s strict annexation laws its actual population is well over twenty thousand people. The city was named after the famous House of Lancaster. Locally, Lancaster is pronounced LAYN-ks-tr, rather than the usual American pronunciation LAN-kas-tr. The modern British pronunciation is LANG-kas-tr.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#9 dumbest in South Carolina
Located in
Darlington County, South Carolina
Darlington is a city located in Darlington County, South Carolina, United States. In 2016, its population was 6,117. It is the county seat of Darlington County. It is part of the Florence, South Carolina Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#10 dumbest in South Carolina
Located in
York County, South Carolina
York is a city and county seat of York County, South Carolina, United States. The population was approximately 6,985 at the 2000 census and up to 7,736 at the 2010 census. York is located approximately 27 miles southwest of Charlotte, North Carolina and 13 miles west of Rock Hill, South Carolina.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is South Carolina’s statewide median.
On the map
Where South Carolina’s dumbest cities are
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How we determined the dumbest cities in the Palmetto State
We realize that formal education is only part of it when it comes to being intelligent, but on the other hand, knowing the difference between they’re, their, and there is always going to make you look pretty stupid.
So, we used Saturday Night Science to narrow down our criteria to focus on a city’s educational opportunities and what percentage of the population takes advantage of those opportunities.
In short, we came up with these criteria to determine the dumbest cities in South Carolina:
- % of the city’s population with less than a high school education (Age 25+)
- % of city’s population with a college degree (Age 25+)
We got the data from the U.S. Census 2020-2024 American Community Survey.
Then, our algorithm generates a rank for each place in these categories. After crunching all the numbers, a ranking of the cities in South Carolina from dumbest to brightest.
For this ranking, we used every South Carolina city with at least 5,000 residents. We updated this article for 2026, and it’s our eleventh time ranking the dumbest cities in South Carolina.
The full plate
Dumbest Cities In South Carolina For 2026
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Population | % Adult High School Dropout | % Highly Educated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dillon | 6,354 | 22.0% | 12.0% |
| 2 | Bennettsville | 7,751 | 20.0% | 12.0% |
| 3 | Greenwood | 22,536 | 20.0% | 18.0% |
| 4 | Laurens | 9,336 | 19.0% | 14.0% |
| 5 | Chester | 5,218 | 18.0% | 14.0% |
| 6 | Newberry | 10,790 | 20.0% | 19.0% |
| 7 | Union | 8,079 | 17.0% | 15.0% |
| 8 | Lancaster | 8,921 | 20.0% | 21.0% |
| 9 | Darlington | 6,120 | 18.0% | 19.0% |
| 10 | York | 8,969 | 15.0% | 19.0% |
| 11 | Orangeburg | 13,253 | 18.0% | 26.0% |
| 12 | Gaffney | 12,596 | 16.0% | 23.0% |
| 13 | Walterboro | 5,480 | 16.0% | 25.0% |
| 14 | Marion | 6,206 | 12.0% | 19.0% |
| 15 | Conway | 27,263 | 11.0% | 20.0% |
| 16 | Seneca | 8,993 | 14.0% | 29.0% |
| 17 | Anderson | 30,051 | 12.0% | 28.0% |
| 18 | Georgetown | 8,565 | 10.0% | 22.0% |
| 19 | North Charleston | 119,913 | 11.0% | 28.0% |
| 20 | Clinton | 7,676 | 13.0% | 31.0% |
| 21 | Hollywood | 5,382 | 14.0% | 33.0% |
| 22 | Spartanburg | 38,910 | 13.0% | 32.0% |
| 23 | Florence | 40,408 | 12.0% | 30.0% |
| 24 | Easley | 24,841 | 12.0% | 31.0% |
| 25 | Sumter | 43,053 | 9.0% | 29.0% |
| 26 | Clover | 7,234 | 9.0% | 30.0% |
| 27 | Moncks Corner | 15,485 | 8.0% | 30.0% |
| 28 | Hartsville | 7,419 | 9.0% | 34.0% |
| 29 | Rock Hill | 75,259 | 9.0% | 35.0% |
| 30 | Fountain Inn | 12,020 | 8.0% | 34.0% |
| 31 | Travelers Rest | 8,370 | 12.0% | 42.0% |
| 32 | Goose Creek | 48,078 | 6.0% | 30.0% |
| 33 | Camden | 8,267 | 9.0% | 39.0% |
| 34 | Myrtle Beach | 38,371 | 7.0% | 34.0% |
| 35 | Summerville | 51,654 | 7.0% | 34.0% |
| 36 | Lyman | 6,547 | 5.0% | 29.0% |
| 37 | Cayce | 13,741 | 6.0% | 32.0% |
| 38 | North Augusta | 25,653 | 7.0% | 36.0% |
| 39 | Columbia | 139,643 | 10.0% | 45.0% |
| 40 | West Columbia | 17,963 | 8.0% | 42.0% |
| 41 | Greer | 41,536 | 8.0% | 42.0% |
| 42 | Port Royal | 15,579 | 6.0% | 39.0% |
| 43 | Mauldin | 27,055 | 6.0% | 39.0% |
| 44 | North Myrtle Beach | 19,855 | 6.0% | 40.0% |
| 45 | Hilton Head Island | 37,911 | 8.0% | 55.0% |
| 46 | Simpsonville | 26,144 | 5.0% | 37.0% |
| 47 | Hanahan | 21,452 | 5.0% | 39.0% |
| 48 | Central | 5,320 | 7.0% | 56.0% |
| 49 | James Island | 12,198 | 6.0% | 49.0% |
| 50 | Irmo | 11,813 | 4.0% | 39.0% |
| 51 | Beaufort | 13,747 | 4.0% | 39.0% |
| 52 | Hardeeville | 10,871 | 5.0% | 43.0% |
| 53 | Greenville | 72,935 | 6.0% | 56.0% |
| 54 | Aiken | 32,521 | 5.0% | 48.0% |
| 55 | Clemson | 18,072 | 6.0% | 59.0% |
| 56 | Blythewood | 5,731 | 4.0% | 45.0% |
| 57 | Charleston | 154,338 | 5.0% | 57.0% |
| 58 | Lexington | 24,585 | 4.0% | 51.0% |
| 59 | Bluffton | 33,157 | 2.0% | 53.0% |
| 60 | Forest Acres | 10,530 | 3.0% | 63.0% |
| 61 | Fort Mill | 30,775 | 1.0% | 59.0% |
| 62 | Tega Cay | 13,615 | 2.0% | 67.0% |
| 63 | Mount Pleasant | 93,993 | 2.0% | 68.0% |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024. 63 cities with more than 5,000 residents.
Summary
There You Have It – Now That You’re Asleep
If you’re measuring the locations in South Carolina where there are a high number of dropouts and adults who never received a formal education, this is an accurate ranking.
The dumbest cities in South Carolina are Dillon, Bennettsville, Greenwood, Laurens, Chester, Newberry, Union, Lancaster, Darlington, and York.
