Like all states, South Carolina has certain places that are going on hard times. These South Carolina places have an above-average percentage of people living in poverty, out of work, or not making as much as they should be.
Even as the economy continues to improve, it’s worthwhile to look at the places in each state struggling to make ends meet. So we set our sites on locating the poorest places in South Carolina.
To do so, we used Saturday Night Science to analyze the newest Census data from the American Community Survey for the 64 cities in South Carolina with more than 5,000 people.
$35,891 median income · 32.8% poverty · #5 lowest income in South Carolina
Located in
Dillon County, South Carolina
Dillon, unfortunately, ranks as the poorest place in South Carolina thanks to combination of low pay and and a lack of jobs.
The city of 6,354 people averages the 5th lowest median household income in South Carolina and the 2nd highest poverty rate. At the very least, the cost of living ranks in the bottom 15% of place in the state, so things like housing are relatively affordable.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$31,914 median income · 28.9% poverty · #2 lowest income in South Carolina
Located in
Union County, South Carolina
The second poorest city in South Carolina is Union.
The city ranks as having the 8th highest incidence of poverty and 2nd lowest median household income. However, the unemployment rate ‘only’ ranks as the 3rd highest in the Palmetto State.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$38,635 median income · 32.6% poverty · #7 lowest income in South Carolina
Located in
Orangeburg County, South Carolina
Placing as the third poorest city, Orangeburg’s median income ranks as the 7th lowest.
And that’s a sign that there’s a relatively substantial jump in the quality of the economy from second to third place on our list. The poverty rate is 32.6% and ranks near the bottom of places in the state.
But what makes up for the relatively low incomes of the city is its low cost of living. The income you do make here goes further than in most parts of the Palmetto State.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$33,952 median income · 30.2% poverty · #4 lowest income in South Carolina
Located in
Darlington County, South Carolina
Darlington ranks as the fourth poorest place in South Carolina.
The town ranks as having the 4th lowest median household income and the 6th highest incidence of poverty in the state.
That being said, there’s still a ton of cultural diversity in the city as it hosts many events throughout the year.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$30,662 median income · 26.8% poverty · #1 lowest income in South Carolina
Located in
Marion County, South Carolina
The fifth poorest city in South Carolina is Marion.
The city ranks as having the lowest median income in the state. However, an extremely low cost of living prevents a good number of folks from living in poverty as the poverty rate only ranks as the 12th highest in South Carolina.
Still not the best news for Marion.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$37,115 median income · 28.4% poverty · #6 lowest income in South Carolina
Located in
Marlboro County, South Carolina
Bennettsville ranks as the sixth poorest place in the Palmetto State.
It ranks as having the 9th highest incidence of poverty and the highest unemployment rate.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$41,089 median income · 29.1% poverty · #8 lowest income in South Carolina
Located in
Cherokee County, South Carolina
Gaffney places as the seventh poorest city in South Carolina.
The city of over 12,596 ranks as having the 7th highest incidence of poverty in the state. However, it has a very low cost of living which helps to pay the bills each month.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$33,600 median income · 25.7% poverty · #3 lowest income in South Carolina
Lake City ranks as the eighth poorest city in South Carolina.
The big issue for the town is the unemployment rate which ranks as one of the highest in the state.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$49,520 median income · 36.0% poverty · #16 lowest income in South Carolina
Located in
Pickens County, South Carolina
Clemson couldn’t stay out of the top ten poorest places in South Carolina; it ranks number 9.
While the median income is the 16th lowest, there are a substantial number of people that live below the poverty line. Overall, Clemson ranks as having the most people living in poverty of all the places we analyzed in South Carolina.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$44,522 median income · 27.7% poverty · #10 lowest income in South Carolina
Located in
Laurens County, South Carolina
And rounding out the top ten poorest cities in South Carolina is Clinton.
The city of 7,676 people ranks in the bottom 20% for both median income and poverty rate in the Palmetto State.
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.
South Carolina statewide median: $69,324
South Carolina statewide median: 14.1%
South Carolina statewide median: 4.9%
On the map
Where poverty hits hardest in South Carolina
Saturday Night Science
How we determined the poorest places in South Carolina for 2026
The first thing that comes to most people’s minds when they think about determining the poorest places is to simply the poverty rate. That is, the number of people living below a federally established level of income for a household of a certain size.
However, we don’t think that one statistic wholly encompasses what it means to be one of the “poorest places”. So we used Saturday Night Science to look at this set of criteria from the newly released 2020-2024 American Community Survey:
- Poverty Level
- Median Household Income
After we collected the data for all 64 places with more than 5,000 people in South Carolina, we ranked each place from 1 to 64 for each of the criteria, with 1 being the poorest.
We then averaged all the rankings for a place into a “Poor Score” with the place having the lowest overall Poor Score, Dillon, crowned the “Poorest Place In South Carolina For 2026”. The median South Carolina home is 33 years old — old enough that it pays to compare home warranty plans before something expensive breaks.
The full plate
Detailed list of the poorest places to live in South Carolina
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Poor Score | Population | Median income | Poverty | Unemployment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dillon | 3.50 | 6,354 | $35,891 | 32.8% | 8.0% |
| 2 | Union | 5.00 | 8,079 | $31,914 | 28.9% | 11.4% |
| 3 | Orangeburg | 5.00 | 13,253 | $38,635 | 32.6% | 11.8% |
| 4 | Darlington | 5.00 | 6,120 | $33,952 | 30.2% | 7.1% |
| 5 | Marion | 6.50 | 6,206 | $30,662 | 26.8% | 4.7% |
| 6 | Bennettsville | 7.50 | 7,751 | $37,115 | 28.4% | 12.5% |
| 7 | Gaffney | 7.50 | 12,596 | $41,089 | 29.1% | 10.6% |
| 8 | Lake City | 8.00 | 5,988 | $33,600 | 25.7% | 9.7% |
| 9 | Clemson | 8.50 | 18,072 | $49,520 | 36.0% | 4.5% |
| 10 | Clinton | 10.50 | 7,676 | $44,522 | 27.7% | 4.9% |
| 11 | Newberry | 10.50 | 10,790 | $51,260 | 31.5% | 6.9% |
| 12 | Laurens | 14.00 | 9,336 | $49,246 | 25.4% | 1.9% |
| 13 | Greenwood | 14.50 | 22,536 | $41,150 | 21.6% | 8.7% |
| 14 | Lancaster | 16.50 | 8,921 | $46,311 | 21.2% | 9.6% |
| 15 | Central | 17.00 | 5,320 | $60,258 | 30.3% | 4.4% |
| 16 | Spartanburg | 17.00 | 38,910 | $51,964 | 23.8% | 7.4% |
| 17 | Walterboro | 17.50 | 5,480 | $56,457 | 28.2% | 6.1% |
| 18 | Columbia | 18.00 | 139,643 | $55,529 | 24.0% | 7.5% |
| 19 | Seneca | 18.00 | 8,993 | $52,022 | 22.1% | 8.9% |
| 20 | Anderson | 18.00 | 30,051 | $46,933 | 21.0% | 6.8% |
| 21 | Chester | 18.00 | 5,218 | $46,138 | 19.4% | 7.6% |
| 22 | Travelers Rest | 19.00 | 8,370 | $54,583 | 22.0% | 6.2% |
| 23 | Hartsville | 19.50 | 7,419 | $49,272 | 19.6% | 7.2% |
| 24 | Georgetown | 23.50 | 8,565 | $56,981 | 21.9% | 9.4% |
| 25 | Conway | 24.00 | 27,263 | $56,650 | 21.0% | 8.3% |
| 26 | Florence | 25.00 | 40,408 | $56,143 | 18.9% | 5.4% |
| 27 | Sumter | 25.50 | 43,053 | $55,592 | 16.7% | 6.6% |
| 28 | York | 27.00 | 8,969 | $56,176 | 15.9% | 2.2% |
| 29 | Myrtle Beach | 28.00 | 38,371 | $60,394 | 19.0% | 5.4% |
| 30 | West Columbia | 31.00 | 17,963 | $56,912 | 13.7% | 4.8% |
| 31 | North Charleston | 32.00 | 119,913 | $62,956 | 14.4% | 4.3% |
| 32 | Cayce | 33.00 | 13,741 | $62,045 | 13.7% | 5.3% |
| 33 | Easley | 34.00 | 24,841 | $66,299 | 13.9% | 3.2% |
| 34 | Greenville | 34.50 | 72,935 | $71,472 | 14.0% | 4.4% |
| 35 | Beaufort | 34.50 | 13,747 | $61,220 | 12.5% | 3.6% |
| 36 | Camden | 35.00 | 8,267 | $63,576 | 13.2% | 8.2% |
| 37 | Aiken | 35.50 | 32,521 | $76,746 | 17.0% | 5.4% |
| 38 | Rock Hill | 36.50 | 75,259 | $68,771 | 12.6% | 5.8% |
| 39 | Hollywood | 40.00 | 5,382 | $73,693 | 12.2% | 2.5% |
| 40 | Hardeeville | 43.00 | 10,871 | $78,365 | 11.8% | 7.3% |
| 41 | Port Royal | 44.50 | 15,579 | $74,870 | 8.4% | 1.0% |
| 42 | Summerville | 45.50 | 51,654 | $81,046 | 10.1% | 4.9% |
| 43 | Fountain Inn | 45.50 | 12,020 | $73,585 | 7.7% | 4.7% |
| 44 | Irmo | 45.50 | 11,813 | $80,489 | 9.2% | 8.4% |
| 45 | North Myrtle Beach | 46.00 | 19,855 | $72,722 | 7.4% | 4.0% |
| 46 | Greer | 46.50 | 41,536 | $82,626 | 10.1% | 2.4% |
| 47 | Mauldin | 47.50 | 27,055 | $82,331 | 8.4% | 4.9% |
| 48 | Forest Acres | 47.50 | 10,530 | $78,306 | 8.2% | 4.1% |
| 49 | Charleston | 48.00 | 154,338 | $92,414 | 12.3% | 3.4% |
| 50 | Hanahan | 48.00 | 21,452 | $87,984 | 11.7% | 2.5% |
| 51 | Lyman | 49.50 | 6,547 | $75,653 | 6.1% | 3.4% |
| 52 | Clover | 50.00 | 7,234 | $85,450 | 8.3% | 4.8% |
| 53 | Hilton Head Island | 52.50 | 37,911 | $94,657 | 8.6% | 3.0% |
| 54 | Lexington | 53.00 | 24,585 | $87,126 | 7.4% | 5.2% |
| 55 | Moncks Corner | 53.00 | 15,485 | $91,500 | 8.3% | 3.6% |
| 56 | North Augusta | 53.50 | 25,653 | $86,092 | 6.6% | 3.8% |
| 57 | Simpsonville | 54.00 | 26,144 | $82,457 | 6.1% | 4.1% |
| 58 | Goose Creek | 55.50 | 48,078 | $88,178 | 6.5% | 2.7% |
| 59 | Blythewood | 59.50 | 5,731 | $94,167 | 4.8% | 5.0% |
| 60 | James Island | 60.00 | 12,198 | $104,217 | 5.6% | 1.2% |
| 61 | Mount Pleasant | 60.50 | 93,993 | $124,755 | 6.1% | 3.3% |
| 62 | Fort Mill | 62.00 | 30,775 | $121,823 | 4.8% | 2.3% |
| 63 | Bluffton | 62.00 | 33,157 | $111,281 | 4.3% | 2.2% |
| 64 | Tega Cay | 64.00 | 13,615 | $142,000 | 1.5% | 2.2% |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024. 64 cities with more than 5,000 residents.
Summary
The poorest cities in South Carolina for 2026
Like we said earlier, when we set out to identify the poorest places in South Carolina, we weren’t sure what we’d encounter, but it ended up being some of the best places to live in South Carolina.
When you look at the data, the cities and places mentioned above meet the criteria for being at the very bottom of the income ladder for everyone that lives there. Not sold on South Carolina? Take the two-minute Find Your Place quiz and see which state actually fits you.
