Barnwell County, South Carolina

County Distress Index: Serious · 74.9 | 20,447 people · 1st most distressed in South Carolina

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Barnwell County, SC shows significant household financial distress with a score of 74.9 — 66th nationally out of 3144 counties. The primary driver is Income & Poverty, where poverty rates are high and household incomes lag well behind state and national medians. Within South Carolina, it ranks 1st of 46 counties. It scores higher than all 5 of its neighboring counties.

The Numbers Behind the Score

The CDI measures five domains of financial distress. Barnwell County's primary driver is Income & Poverty at 95.5 — worse than roughly 96% of U.S. counties.

Income & Poverty Primary driver 95.5
Poverty Rate 97
Income vs. State Median 90
Child Poverty Rate 99
Debt & Delinquency 82.6
Debt in Collections 93
Medical Debt 89
Student Loan Delinquency 91
Auto Loan Delinquency 96
Credit Card Delinquency 85
Bankruptcy Filing Rate 42
Community Vulnerability 77.4
Uninsured Rate 76
Disability Rate 79
Employment & Wages 61.0
Unemployment Rate 97
Wage-to-Rent Ratio 56
Business Formation Rate 30
Housing Cost Burden 58.2
Rent-Burdened (30%+) 60
Severely Rent-Burdened (50%+) 77
Mortgage-Burdened (30%+) 14
Homeownership Rate 66
Rent-to-Income Ratio 74

Scores are percentile-based: 50 = national median, higher = more distressed. The median line is shown on each bar.

Neighbors and Peers

How Barnwell County compares to its 5 neighboring counties and population peers.

Neighboring Counties

County Score Zone vs. Barnwell County
Barnwell County, SC 74.9 Serious
Bamberg County, SC 74.4 Serious -0.6
Allendale County, SC 68.6 Serious -6.3
Burke County, GA 66.2 Serious -8.7
Orangeburg County, SC 65.4 Serious -9.5
Aiken County, SC 52.2 Elevated -22.8

Population Peers

County Score Zone vs. Barnwell County
St. Francis County, AR 74.9 Serious -0.0
Coahoma County, MS 74.9 Serious -0.0
Calhoun County, FL 74.9 Serious -0.1
Trinity County, TX 74.8 Serious -0.1
Union County, SC 74.8 Serious -0.2

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