Fairfield County, South Carolina

County Distress Index: Serious · 69.5 | 20,422 people · 10th most distressed in South Carolina

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Fairfield County, SC shows significant household financial distress with a score of 69.5 — 237th 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 10th of 46 counties. Among its 6 neighboring counties, 5 show less distress.

The Numbers Behind the Score

The CDI measures five domains of financial distress. Fairfield County's primary driver is Income & Poverty at 89.4 — worse than roughly 89% of U.S. counties.

Income & Poverty Primary driver 89.4
Poverty Rate 88
Income vs. State Median 86
Child Poverty Rate 94
Debt & Delinquency 82.4
Debt in Collections 92
Medical Debt 59
Student Loan Delinquency 93
Auto Loan Delinquency 90
Credit Card Delinquency 93
Bankruptcy Filing Rate 67
Housing Cost Burden 64.6
Rent-Burdened (30%+) 75
Severely Rent-Burdened (50%+) 68
Mortgage-Burdened (30%+) 41
Homeownership Rate 41
Rent-to-Income Ratio 97
Community Vulnerability 59.4
Uninsured Rate 50
Disability Rate 69
Employment & Wages 51.7
Unemployment Rate 87
Wage-to-Rent Ratio 48
Business Formation Rate 20

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

Neighbors and Peers

How Fairfield County compares to its 6 neighboring counties and population peers.

Neighboring Counties

County Score Zone vs. Fairfield County
Fairfield County, SC 69.5 Serious
Union County, SC 74.8 Serious +5.3
Chester County, SC 64.0 Elevated -5.5
Richland County, SC 61.5 Elevated -8.0
Newberry County, SC 60.6 Elevated -8.9
Kershaw County, SC 52.7 Elevated -16.7
Lancaster County, SC 39.8 Normal -29.7

Population Peers

County Score Zone vs. Fairfield County
Fulton County, AR 69.4 Serious -0.1
Cook County, GA 69.4 Serious -0.1
Hale County, TX 69.6 Serious +0.1
McCurtain County, OK 69.6 Serious +0.1
Terry County, TX 69.3 Serious -0.2

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