Fairfield County vs Saluda County

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

Fairfield County and Saluda 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 18,958 in Saluda County). Saluda County has the higher median household income ($52,957 vs $46,972 in Fairfield County). Fairfield County has the higher median home value ($129,100 vs $123,200 in Saluda County).

Population, income & housing

	Fairfield County	Saluda County
Population	20,741	18,958
Median age	46.7 yrs	43.0 yrs
Median household income	$46,972	$52,957
Median home value	$129,100	$123,200
Median gross rent	$910	$814
Housing units	10,957	9,420
Homeownership rate	76.0%	78.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.3%	19.8%
Unemployment rate	5.5%	2.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Fairfield County	Saluda County
Population	22,565 → 20,741 (-8.1%)	20,303 → 18,958 (-6.6%)
Median household income	$38,213 → $46,972 (+22.9%)	$45,714 → $52,957 (+15.8%)
Median home value	$103,000 → $129,100 (+25.3%)	$108,600 → $123,200 (+13.4%)
Median gross rent	$712 → $910 (+27.8%)	$661 → $814 (+23.1%)

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

Saluda County

Population

20,30318,958

Median household income

$45,714$52,957

Median home value

$108,600$123,200

Median gross rent

$661$814

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Fairfield County	Saluda County
Under 5	4.5%	5.8%
5 to 17	13.9%	16.0%
18 to 24	7.6%	7.8%
25 to 34	11.0%	10.2%
35 to 44	11.1%	12.0%
45 to 54	11.5%	12.8%
55 to 64	17.3%	15.2%
65 to 74	14.7%	11.5%
75 and over	8.4%	8.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Fairfield County	Saluda County
White (non-Hispanic)	38.7%	57.5%
Black or African American	55.1%	22.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.2%
Asian	0.2%	0.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.8%
Two or more races	3.3%	2.5%
Hispanic or Latino	2.3%	16.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Fairfield County	Saluda County
No high school diploma	15.4%	16.0%
High school graduate	38.8%	37.8%
Some college or associate's	30.5%	26.4%
Bachelor's degree	8.9%	11.4%
Graduate or professional degree	6.4%	8.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Fairfield County	Saluda County
Drove alone	83.1%	79.7%
Carpooled	8.3%	7.8%
Public transit	1.6%	0.2%
Walked	1.1%	1.4%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	4.3%	5.4%
Other means	1.6%	5.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Fairfield County	Saluda County
1-unit, detached	69.5%	65.5%
1-unit, attached	0.6%	0.4%
2 to 4 units	4.2%	1.2%
5 to 19 units	1.2%	2.0%
20 or more units	1.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	23.5%	30.9%

Poverty & households

	Fairfield County	Saluda County
Poverty rate	16.9%	19.4%
Average household size	2.32	2.48
Mean commute (minutes)	30	30
Median year structure built	1982	1987