South Carolina counties by area

Understanding South Carolina’s county areas

The land-area range runs from McCormick County at 358.9 mi² to Horry County at 1,133.1 mi². The largest has 3.2 times the land area of the smallest and accounts for 3.8% of the combined county land in South Carolina. Compare with every state’s largest county.

The median county-equivalent land area is 616.9 mi², above the national median of 604.5 mi². The median describes the middle of the county size distribution; it does not describe how people or development are distributed. A state with a few very large counties can have a much smaller median than its largest entry suggests.

Where water changes the picture

Charleston County has the most assigned water area, at 448.6 mi². Beaufort County has the highest water share, with water making up 37.6% of its total area. Water area and water percentage answer different questions: the first measures an amount, while the second measures the mix of land and water.

Across all 46 entries, water accounts for 6.1% of the combined total area. This is calculated from the summed land and water measurements, rather than averaging county percentages, which would give each small and large county equal weight.

Where people live

An estimated 5,570,274 people lived in South Carolina on July 1, 2025 (+8.8% since 2020), or 1.6% of the national total in this dataset. Greenville County is the most populous county equivalent, with 583,125 residents — 10.5% of the state. The largest by land, Horry County, has 427,551.

Across the state there are 185 people per square mile of land. County densities range from 742 in Greenville County to 18 in Allendale County; the median county equivalent has 78. Switch the map above to density to see where the state’s population concentrates.

Compare the largest and smallest county equivalents in South Carolina to see land, water, and total area on the same scale.

These calculations use the 2026 Census county records listed below. County-equivalent boundaries vary between states; area alone does not measure population, density, or usable land. See coverage and calculation rules.