Pickens County, South Carolina

County Distress Index: Elevated · 59.8 | 135,495 people · 26th most distressed in South Carolina

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Pickens County, SC registers elevated household financial distress with a score of 59.8 — 843rd nationally out of 3144 counties. The primary driver is Housing Cost Burden, where a large share of households spend more than 30% of income on housing. Within South Carolina, it ranks 26th of 46 counties. It scores higher than all 4 of its neighboring counties.

The Numbers Behind the Score

The CDI measures five domains of financial distress. Pickens County's primary driver is Housing Cost Burden at 76.2 — worse than roughly 76% of U.S. counties.

Housing Cost Burden Primary driver 76.2
Rent-Burdened (30%+) 90
Severely Rent-Burdened (50%+) 96
Mortgage-Burdened (30%+) 37
Homeownership Rate 69
Rent-to-Income Ratio 90
Employment & Wages 69.7
Unemployment Rate 83
Wage-to-Rent Ratio 79
Business Formation Rate 47
Income & Poverty 55.4
Poverty Rate 72
Income vs. State Median 46
Child Poverty Rate 49
Community Vulnerability 52.9
Uninsured Rate 57
Disability Rate 49
Debt & Delinquency 44.9
Debt in Collections 56
Medical Debt 38
Student Loan Delinquency 35
Auto Loan Delinquency 71
Credit Card Delinquency 60
Bankruptcy Filing Rate 8

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

Neighbors and Peers

How Pickens County compares to its 4 neighboring counties and population peers.

Neighboring Counties

County Score Zone vs. Pickens County
Pickens County, SC 59.8 Elevated
Anderson County, SC 53.6 Elevated -6.3
Transylvania County, NC 50.8 Elevated -9.0
Oconee County, SC 48.3 Normal -11.5
Greenville County, SC 45.1 Normal -14.7

Population Peers

County Score Zone vs. Pickens County
Mercer County, WV 59.9 Elevated +0.0
Muskingum County, OH 59.9 Elevated +0.0
Salem County, NJ 59.9 Elevated +0.1
Nash County, NC 59.7 Elevated -0.1
Garfield County, OK 59.7 Elevated -0.1

Download Data

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