Aiken vs Clearwater

A side-by-side comparison of Aiken and Clearwater: population, income, housing, and more.

Aiken and Clearwater are places in South Carolina. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Aiken has the higher population (32,334 vs 3,124 in Clearwater). Aiken has the higher median household income ($69,837 vs $50,669 in Clearwater). Aiken has the higher median home value ($261,800 vs $156,500 in Clearwater).

Population, income & housing

	Aiken	Clearwater
Population	32,334	3,124
Median age	46.5 yrs	41.3 yrs
Median household income	$69,837	$50,669
Median home value	$261,800	$156,500
Median gross rent	$1,199	$835
Housing units	14,683	1,559
Homeownership rate	69.7%	60.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	45.1%	9.1%
Unemployment rate	4.7%	8.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Aiken	Clearwater
Population	30,671 → 32,334 (+5.4%)	4,264 → 3,124 (-26.7%)
Median household income	$56,199 → $69,837 (+24.3%)	$29,786 → $50,669 (+70.1%)
Median home value	$188,600 → $261,800 (+38.8%)	$108,300 → $156,500 (+44.5%)
Median gross rent	$951 → $1,199 (+26.1%)	$679 → $835 (+23.0%)

Aiken

Population

30,67132,334

Median household income

$56,199$69,837

Median home value

$188,600$261,800

Median gross rent

$951$1,199

Clearwater

Population

4,2643,124

Median household income

$29,786$50,669

Median home value

$108,300$156,500

Median gross rent

$679$835

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Aiken	Clearwater
Under 5	4.3%	3.9%
5 to 17	13.9%	16.5%
18 to 24	9.7%	14.0%
25 to 34	11.5%	10.4%
35 to 44	9.0%	12.2%
45 to 54	10.4%	15.7%
55 to 64	12.4%	15.9%
65 to 74	15.4%	5.4%
75 and over	13.4%	5.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Aiken	Clearwater
White (non-Hispanic)	59.5%	66.6%
Black or African American	32.0%	8.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.0%
Asian	2.0%	0.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.6%
Two or more races	2.7%	4.9%
Hispanic or Latino	3.5%	18.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Aiken	Clearwater
No high school diploma	6.9%	8.3%
High school graduate	22.9%	42.9%
Some college or associate's	25.2%	39.6%
Bachelor's degree	27.4%	6.1%
Graduate or professional degree	17.7%	3.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Aiken	Clearwater
Drove alone	79.5%	79.7%
Carpooled	8.0%	12.8%
Public transit	0.4%	0.0%
Walked	1.5%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	9.8%	7.5%
Other means	0.8%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Aiken	Clearwater
1-unit, detached	74.1%	59.1%
1-unit, attached	7.1%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	8.8%	2.1%
5 to 19 units	6.6%	10.5%
20 or more units	3.2%	5.3%
Mobile home & other	0.1%	23.0%

Poverty & households

	Aiken	Clearwater
Poverty rate	16.3%	14.4%
Average household size	2.38	2.41
Mean commute (minutes)	24	26
Median year structure built	1987	1975