New Census Data Show Progress in Reducing Poverty in South Carolina

By Bryan P. Grady, Ph.D., Assistant Executive Director for Labor Market Information

Last month, the U.S. Census Bureau released its Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates data for 2024. This data set provides uniquely granular information about the economic well-being of our communities.

First, it’s worth talking about what constitutes poverty mathematically. The calculation is very simple: the current poverty level for a household is $15,960 for a single adult plus $5,680 for each additional person living in the home. These figures are updated annually to account for inflation. Of course, by being so simple, the poverty level fails to account for variations in housing costs and other relevant factors that determine whether a family can support itself, though other tools are available for more complex calculations.

Overall, 13.3 percent of South Carolinians, including 18.1 percent of children, were living in households whose income was below the poverty level in 2024. The latter number is the lowest in the three decades that these data have been collected, while the overall poverty rate approached the lowest recorded value of 12.8 percent, last seen in 2000. 

Among the state’s counties, those with the lowest overall poverty rates were Beaufort (8.4 percent), York (8.8 percent), Berkeley (8.9 percent), Dorchester (9.1 percent), and Greenville (9.9 percent). York had the lowest share of children in poverty (12.7 percent).

In 2011, the lowest county poverty rate was 12.9 percent (shared by Beaufort and Dorchester). In other words, poverty is about as common statewide as it was in our most well-off counties 15 years ago.