Elgin vs Lancaster

A side-by-side comparison of Elgin and Lancaster: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Lancaster has the higher population (8,738 vs 2,258 in Elgin). Elgin has the higher median household income ($74,167 vs $43,234 in Lancaster). Lancaster has the higher median home value ($226,300 vs $177,700 in Elgin).

Population, income & housing

	Elgin	Lancaster
Population	2,258	8,738
Median age	52.3 yrs	38.2 yrs
Median household income	$74,167	$43,234
Median home value	$177,700	$226,300
Median gross rent	$744	$824
Housing units	965	3,920
Homeownership rate	85.8%	44.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	17.4%	17.3%
Unemployment rate	3.6%	14.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Elgin	Lancaster
Population	2,932 → 2,258 (-23.0%)	9,143 → 8,738 (-4.4%)
Median household income	$44,939 → $74,167 (+65.0%)	$30,122 → $43,234 (+43.5%)
Median home value	$134,800 → $177,700 (+31.8%)	$141,600 → $226,300 (+59.8%)
Median gross rent	$872 → $744 (-14.7%)	$695 → $824 (+18.6%)

Elgin

Population

2,9322,258

Median household income

$44,939$74,167

Median home value

$134,800$177,700

Median gross rent

$872$744

Lancaster

Population

9,1438,738

Median household income

$30,122$43,234

Median home value

$141,600$226,300

Median gross rent

$695$824

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Elgin	Lancaster
Under 5	3.9%	4.9%
5 to 17	11.9%	18.5%
18 to 24	3.5%	7.9%
25 to 34	13.1%	12.8%
35 to 44	7.1%	13.7%
45 to 54	15.9%	12.5%
55 to 64	12.4%	11.3%
65 to 74	16.3%	10.5%
75 and over	15.9%	8.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Elgin	Lancaster
White (non-Hispanic)	86.0%	35.7%
Black or African American	6.7%	46.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	1.8%	0.1%
Asian	0.0%	1.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.4%
Two or more races	1.2%	1.9%
Hispanic or Latino	4.3%	14.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Elgin	Lancaster
No high school diploma	24.4%	21.7%
High school graduate	35.5%	31.4%
Some college or associate's	22.8%	29.6%
Bachelor's degree	16.2%	10.7%
Graduate or professional degree	1.2%	6.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Elgin	Lancaster
Drove alone	93.3%	79.1%
Carpooled	6.7%	11.1%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.0%	1.7%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.5%
Worked from home	0.0%	4.8%
Other means	0.0%	2.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Elgin	Lancaster
1-unit, detached	82.1%	66.5%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	1.4%
2 to 4 units	0.0%	7.4%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	8.2%
20 or more units	0.0%	11.4%
Mobile home & other	17.9%	5.1%

Poverty & households

	Elgin	Lancaster
Poverty rate	4.4%	27.5%
Average household size	2.66	2.42
Mean commute (minutes)	23	26
Median year structure built	1985	1973