Barnwell County vs Fairfield County

A side-by-side comparison of Barnwell County and Fairfield County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Fairfield County has the higher population (20,741 vs 20,565 in Barnwell County). Fairfield County has the higher median household income ($46,972 vs $41,800 in Barnwell County). Fairfield County has the higher median home value ($129,100 vs $97,200 in Barnwell County).

Population, income & housing

	Barnwell County	Fairfield County
Population	20,565	20,741
Median age	40.7 yrs	46.7 yrs
Median household income	$41,800	$46,972
Median home value	$97,200	$129,100
Median gross rent	$695	$910
Housing units	9,901	10,957
Homeownership rate	71.0%	76.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	12.8%	15.3%
Unemployment rate	7.2%	5.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Barnwell County	Fairfield County
Population	21,346 → 20,565 (-3.7%)	22,565 → 20,741 (-8.1%)
Median household income	$35,803 → $41,800 (+16.7%)	$38,213 → $46,972 (+22.9%)
Median home value	$81,900 → $97,200 (+18.7%)	$103,000 → $129,100 (+25.3%)
Median gross rent	$621 → $695 (+11.9%)	$712 → $910 (+27.8%)

Barnwell County

Population

21,34620,565

Median household income

$35,803$41,800

Median home value

$81,900$97,200

Median gross rent

$621$695

Fairfield County

Population

22,56520,741

Median household income

$38,213$46,972

Median home value

$103,000$129,100

Median gross rent

$712$910

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Barnwell County	Fairfield County
Under 5	6.6%	4.5%
5 to 17	17.1%	13.9%
18 to 24	8.6%	7.6%
25 to 34	11.8%	11.0%
35 to 44	11.5%	11.1%
45 to 54	11.7%	11.5%
55 to 64	13.7%	17.3%
65 to 74	11.6%	14.7%
75 and over	7.3%	8.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Barnwell County	Fairfield County
White (non-Hispanic)	50.4%	38.7%
Black or African American	43.1%	55.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	0.5%	0.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.3%
Two or more races	2.6%	3.3%
Hispanic or Latino	2.8%	2.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Barnwell County	Fairfield County
No high school diploma	19.2%	15.4%
High school graduate	40.4%	38.8%
Some college or associate's	27.5%	30.5%
Bachelor's degree	8.3%	8.9%
Graduate or professional degree	4.6%	6.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Barnwell County	Fairfield County
Drove alone	81.1%	83.1%
Carpooled	11.9%	8.3%
Public transit	2.4%	1.6%
Walked	0.5%	1.1%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.0%
Worked from home	3.1%	4.3%
Other means	0.8%	1.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Barnwell County	Fairfield County
1-unit, detached	57.7%	69.5%
1-unit, attached	0.7%	0.6%
2 to 4 units	5.8%	4.2%
5 to 19 units	2.3%	1.2%
20 or more units	1.1%	1.0%
Mobile home & other	32.5%	23.5%

Poverty & households

	Barnwell County	Fairfield County
Poverty rate	28.5%	16.9%
Average household size	2.49	2.32
Mean commute (minutes)	28	30
Median year structure built	1984	1982