Rural or coastal boom? Here’s a look at the SC counties that grew, shrank in US Census
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South Carolina 2020 census data
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Horry County was the fastest growing county in South Carolina in the past decade with its population mushrooming by 30%, according to 2020 Census results released Thursday from the Census Bureau.
The U.S. Census comes out every 10 years, and its data is used to map out a state’s political districts, among other purposes. The country has counted its population 24 times since 1970, according to the United States Census Bureau.
Horry County, Berkeley County and Lancaster County were the three fastest-growing counties in the state, the data showed.
In 2010, Horry County had a population of 269,291, making it the fifth largest county in the state by population. The county jumped 30.4% in population in 2020 with 351,029 people, Census data shows. That makes it the fourth largest county in the state behind Greenville, Richland and Charleston counties.
The majority of the population has lived along the coastal waterways since the 1970s, according to the county’s zoning and planning commission in a 2015 report of the area. New residents moved to the area mainly from other Southern states, the report said, and began settling along neighborhoods east of the Waccamaw River because of job opportunities and better housing.
The census data shows that Berkeley County grew by 29.2% in 2020 with a population of 229,861. In 2010, 177,843 people lived there. Berkeley’s population boom has been linked in its 10-year comprehensive plan with big manufacturers like Volvo and Boeing that both have opened up factories in the area.
Lancaster County had a 25.3% jump in the past decade from a population of 76,652 in 2010 to 96,016 in 2020. The population boom is attributed to Lancaster being the home of companies such as Founders Federal Credit Union, Honeywell and Keer America. They’ve created a well-balanced economy in the county in the last decade, according to a report done by Lancaster’s department of economics.
The counties with the least population growth, per the Census, were Allendale, Bamberg and Lee counties.
Lee County, the most populated of the three, had a population of 19,220 in 2010. It decreased 14% in 2020, to 16,532 people.
Bamberg County had 15,987 people living there in 2010 and a population of 13,311 in 2020, indicating a 16.7% drop in the span of a decade.
The least populated county in the state is Allendale County. In 2010, Allendale had a population of 10,419. Ten years later, the number of people living there dropped to 8,039.
This story was originally published August 12, 2021 at 6:44 PM with the headline "Rural or coastal boom? Here’s a look at the SC counties that grew, shrank in US Census."
CORRECTION: This story has been updated with accurate population figures for Lancaster County.
