Cherokee County vs Laurens County

A side-by-side comparison of Cherokee County and Laurens County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Laurens County has the higher population (67,904 vs 56,299 in Cherokee County). Laurens County has the higher median household income ($55,517 vs $49,047 in Cherokee County). Laurens County has the higher median home value ($153,500 vs $135,200 in Cherokee County).

Population, income & housing

	Cherokee County	Laurens County
Population	56,299	67,904
Median age	40.3 yrs	40.9 yrs
Median household income	$49,047	$55,517
Median home value	$135,200	$153,500
Median gross rent	$813	$847
Housing units	24,945	31,695
Homeownership rate	73.3%	70.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	18.4%	17.9%
Unemployment rate	6.3%	4.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Cherokee County	Laurens County
Population	56,895 → 56,299 (-1.0%)	66,846 → 67,904 (+1.6%)
Median household income	$36,883 → $49,047 (+33.0%)	$43,304 → $55,517 (+28.2%)
Median home value	$101,500 → $135,200 (+33.2%)	$101,200 → $153,500 (+51.7%)
Median gross rent	$712 → $813 (+14.2%)	$734 → $847 (+15.4%)

Cherokee County

Population

56,89556,299

Median household income

$36,883$49,047

Median home value

$101,500$135,200

Median gross rent

$712$813

Laurens County

Population

66,84667,904

Median household income

$43,304$55,517

Median home value

$101,200$153,500

Median gross rent

$734$847

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Cherokee County	Laurens County
Under 5	5.9%	5.7%
5 to 17	17.1%	16.3%
18 to 24	8.7%	8.4%
25 to 34	13.0%	12.6%
35 to 44	11.6%	11.6%
45 to 54	13.1%	12.5%
55 to 64	13.5%	14.1%
65 to 74	10.4%	11.4%
75 and over	6.7%	7.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Cherokee County	Laurens County
White (non-Hispanic)	70.0%	65.8%
Black or African American	18.8%	23.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.0%
Asian	0.4%	0.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	1.3%	0.2%
Two or more races	4.0%	4.1%
Hispanic or Latino	5.2%	6.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Cherokee County	Laurens County
No high school diploma	14.5%	16.3%
High school graduate	36.9%	37.2%
Some college or associate's	30.2%	28.6%
Bachelor's degree	11.1%	11.8%
Graduate or professional degree	7.3%	6.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Cherokee County	Laurens County
Drove alone	83.9%	80.5%
Carpooled	8.3%	11.4%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	1.2%	1.6%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	5.3%	5.8%
Other means	1.4%	0.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Cherokee County	Laurens County
1-unit, detached	63.5%	61.7%
1-unit, attached	0.6%	0.7%
2 to 4 units	4.8%	3.7%
5 to 19 units	4.7%	3.3%
20 or more units	1.8%	1.1%
Mobile home & other	24.6%	29.6%

Poverty & households

	Cherokee County	Laurens County
Poverty rate	18.5%	17.6%
Average household size	2.53	2.49
Mean commute (minutes)	25	25
Median year structure built	1982	1984