Aiken County vs Berkeley County

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

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

Berkeley County has the higher population (238,723 vs 171,949 in Aiken County). Berkeley County has the higher median household income ($82,327 vs $67,940 in Aiken County). Berkeley County has the higher median home value ($280,300 vs $199,500 in Aiken County).

Population, income & housing

	Aiken County	Berkeley County
Population	171,949	238,723
Median age	41.6 yrs	36.7 yrs
Median household income	$67,940	$82,327
Median home value	$199,500	$280,300
Median gross rent	$1,031	$1,518
Housing units	78,715	97,512
Homeownership rate	76.7%	74.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	31.1%	29.9%
Unemployment rate	5.6%	3.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Aiken County	Berkeley County
Population	168,301 → 171,949 (+2.2%)	215,044 → 238,723 (+11.0%)
Median household income	$51,399 → $67,940 (+32.2%)	$63,309 → $82,327 (+30.0%)
Median home value	$147,300 → $199,500 (+35.4%)	$185,500 → $280,300 (+51.1%)
Median gross rent	$819 → $1,031 (+25.9%)	$1,109 → $1,518 (+36.9%)

Aiken County

Population

168,301171,949

Median household income

$51,399$67,940

Median home value

$147,300$199,500

Median gross rent

$819$1,031

Berkeley County

Population

215,044238,723

Median household income

$63,309$82,327

Median home value

$185,500$280,300

Median gross rent

$1,109$1,518

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Aiken County	Berkeley County
Under 5	5.7%	6.2%
5 to 17	15.9%	17.6%
18 to 24	7.6%	9.2%
25 to 34	12.6%	14.2%
35 to 44	11.9%	13.9%
45 to 54	11.9%	12.2%
55 to 64	14.0%	12.2%
65 to 74	12.2%	9.2%
75 and over	8.2%	5.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Aiken County	Berkeley County
White (non-Hispanic)	64.2%	60.7%
Black or African American	24.2%	22.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	1.0%	2.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	0.4%	0.6%
Two or more races	3.2%	4.4%
Hispanic or Latino	7.0%	8.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Aiken County	Berkeley County
No high school diploma	10.2%	9.4%
High school graduate	29.7%	28.6%
Some college or associate's	29.0%	32.0%
Bachelor's degree	19.6%	19.3%
Graduate or professional degree	11.5%	10.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Aiken County	Berkeley County
Drove alone	82.7%	78.5%
Carpooled	6.8%	7.9%
Public transit	0.3%	0.3%
Walked	0.7%	1.9%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.1%
Worked from home	8.9%	10.2%
Other means	0.7%	1.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Aiken County	Berkeley County
1-unit, detached	68.3%	65.4%
1-unit, attached	3.9%	4.0%
2 to 4 units	4.3%	2.8%
5 to 19 units	3.4%	6.9%
20 or more units	1.7%	5.7%
Mobile home & other	18.4%	15.2%

Poverty & households

	Aiken County	Berkeley County
Poverty rate	13.9%	10.3%
Average household size	2.47	2.60
Mean commute (minutes)	25	29
Median year structure built	1988	2000