Laurens County vs Oconee County

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

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

Oconee County has the higher population (79,566 vs 67,904 in Laurens County). Oconee County has the higher median household income ($60,193 vs $55,517 in Laurens County). Oconee County has the higher median home value ($217,200 vs $153,500 in Laurens County).

Population, income & housing

	Laurens County	Oconee County
Population	67,904	79,566
Median age	40.9 yrs	46.7 yrs
Median household income	$55,517	$60,193
Median home value	$153,500	$217,200
Median gross rent	$847	$876
Housing units	31,695	41,514
Homeownership rate	70.7%	75.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	17.9%	28.5%
Unemployment rate	4.5%	6.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Laurens County	Oconee County
Population	66,846 → 67,904 (+1.6%)	77,528 → 79,566 (+2.6%)
Median household income	$43,304 → $55,517 (+28.2%)	$49,134 → $60,193 (+22.5%)
Median home value	$101,200 → $153,500 (+51.7%)	$159,800 → $217,200 (+35.9%)
Median gross rent	$734 → $847 (+15.4%)	$762 → $876 (+15.0%)

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

Oconee County

Population

77,52879,566

Median household income

$49,134$60,193

Median home value

$159,800$217,200

Median gross rent

$762$876

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Laurens County	Oconee County
Under 5	5.7%	4.5%
5 to 17	16.3%	14.9%
18 to 24	8.4%	7.1%
25 to 34	12.6%	11.4%
35 to 44	11.6%	10.2%
45 to 54	12.5%	12.1%
55 to 64	14.1%	15.6%
65 to 74	11.4%	14.6%
75 and over	7.4%	9.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Laurens County	Oconee County
White (non-Hispanic)	65.8%	83.5%
Black or African American	23.0%	6.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	0.5%	0.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.2%
Two or more races	4.1%	2.8%
Hispanic or Latino	6.3%	5.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Laurens County	Oconee County
No high school diploma	16.3%	12.9%
High school graduate	37.2%	30.3%
Some college or associate's	28.6%	28.3%
Bachelor's degree	11.8%	17.2%
Graduate or professional degree	6.0%	11.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Laurens County	Oconee County
Drove alone	80.5%	77.5%
Carpooled	11.4%	10.9%
Public transit	0.0%	0.3%
Walked	1.6%	1.1%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	5.8%	8.6%
Other means	0.7%	1.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Laurens County	Oconee County
1-unit, detached	61.7%	67.5%
1-unit, attached	0.7%	1.9%
2 to 4 units	3.7%	4.2%
5 to 19 units	3.3%	3.7%
20 or more units	1.1%	1.4%
Mobile home & other	29.6%	21.2%

Poverty & households

	Laurens County	Oconee County
Poverty rate	17.6%	16.4%
Average household size	2.49	2.34
Mean commute (minutes)	25	25
Median year structure built	1984	1990