South Carolina County Distress Index
Financial distress scores for all 46 counties in South Carolina, scored 0–100 across five domains. A county's score is the share of U.S. counties it is more distressed than; the average South Carolina county scores 75.3. 27 counties score high, very high, or extreme.
Data: U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Urban Institute, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts | Scores as of Aug 2026
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Williamsburg County is the most distressed of South Carolina's 46 counties
County Distress Index score for South Carolina's 46 counties, from green (least distressed, 0–29) to red (most distressed, 80–100). Data from 2024 to Aug 2026.
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County Distress Index score · data from 2024 to Aug 2026
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Most & Least Distressed
Most Distressed
Least Distressed
Score Distribution
How South Carolina's 46 county scores are distributed across the 0–100 scale.
All South Carolina Counties
46 counties ranked by distress score. Click column headers to sort.
| State Rank | Nat'l Rank | County | Score | Score Label | Primary Driver |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 27 | Williamsburg County | 99 | extreme county distress | Delinquency |
| 2 | 62 | Marlboro County | 98 | extreme county distress | Delinquency |
| 3 | 65 | Bamberg County | 97 | extreme county distress | Delinquency |
| 4 | 84 | Darlington County | 97 | extreme county distress | Delinquency |
| 5 | 97 | Lee County | 96 | extreme county distress | Delinquency |
| 6 | — | Orangeburg County | 96 | extreme county distress | Delinquency |
| 7 | — | Marion County | 94 | extreme county distress | Delinquency |
| 8 | — | Sumter County | 93 | extreme county distress | Delinquency |
| 9 | — | Barnwell County | 93 | extreme county distress | Delinquency |
| 10 | — | Colleton County | 92 | extreme county distress | Delinquency |
| 11 | — | Dillon County | 92 | extreme county distress | Delinquency |
| 12 | — | Fairfield County | 91 | extreme county distress | Delinquency |
| 13 | — | Chesterfield County | 91 | extreme county distress | Delinquency |
| 14 | — | Union County | 91 | extreme county distress | Delinquency |
| 15 | — | Allendale County | 90 | extreme county distress | Delinquency |
| 16 | — | Florence County | 89 | very high county distress | Delinquency |
| 17 | — | Clarendon County | 89 | very high county distress | Delinquency |
| 18 | — | Calhoun County | 88 | very high county distress | Delinquency |
| 19 | — | Chester County | 86 | very high county distress | Delinquency |
| 20 | — | Richland County | 85 | very high county distress | Delinquency |
| 21 | — | Cherokee County | 82 | very high county distress | Delinquency |
| 22 | — | Hampton County | 81 | very high county distress | Delinquency |
| 23 | — | Laurens County | 80 | very high county distress | Delinquency |
| 24 | — | Saluda County | 75 | high county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 25 | — | Jasper County | 74 | high county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 26 | — | Horry County | 74 | high county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 27 | — | Edgefield County | 70 | high county distress | Delinquency |
| 28 | — | Aiken County | 68 | moderate-high county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 29 | — | Newberry County | 67 | moderate-high county distress | Delinquency |
| 30 | — | Pickens County | 67 | moderate-high county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 31 | — | Greenwood County | 67 | moderate-high county distress | Delinquency |
| 32 | — | Spartanburg County | 66 | moderate-high county distress | Delinquency |
| 33 | — | Georgetown County | 66 | moderate-high county distress | Delinquency |
| 34 | — | Kershaw County | 64 | moderate-high county distress | Default & Legal |
| 35 | — | Abbeville County | 63 | moderate-high county distress | Delinquency |
| 36 | — | Dorchester County | 62 | moderate-high county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 37 | — | Berkeley County | 58 | moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 38 | — | Anderson County | 56 | moderate county distress | Delinquency |
| 39 | — | Oconee County | 52 | moderate county distress | Safety Net & Buffer |
| 40 | — | McCormick County | 52 | moderate county distress | Labor |
| 41 | — | Lexington County | 47 | moderate-low county distress | Delinquency |
| 42 | — | Greenville County | 43 | moderate-low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 43 | — | York County | 42 | moderate-low county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 44 | — | Lancaster County | 39 | low-moderate county distress | Labor |
| 45 | — | Charleston County | 38 | low-moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
| 46 | — | Beaufort County | 38 | low-moderate county distress | Debt Burden (housing basis) |
How County Scores Work
Each county is scored 0–100 using five equal-weighted domains. Each domain averages its member indicators' county ranks, the domains are averaged, and that average is ranked against every U.S. county. So a county's score is the share of U.S. counties it is more distressed than. National ranks are shown only for the 100 most and 100 least distressed counties, because ranks in between move between updates. Counties with identical composite scores share a rank, marked T- for tied.
Urban Institute data: Breno Braga, Signe-Mary McKernan, Samantha Atherton, and Kassandra Martinchek, "Debt in America," last updated November 20, 2025, https://datacatalog.urban.org/dataset/debt-america-2025. Licensed under ODC-By 1.0. The County Distress Index is American Default Research's own calculation; the Urban Institute does not produce or endorse it.