Lee County vs Saluda County

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

Lee 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.

Saluda County has the higher population (18,958 vs 16,330 in Lee County). Saluda County has the higher median household income ($52,957 vs $44,145 in Lee County). Saluda County has the higher median home value ($123,200 vs $101,900 in Lee County).

Population, income & housing

	Lee County	Saluda County
Population	16,330	18,958
Median age	41.8 yrs	43.0 yrs
Median household income	$44,145	$52,957
Median home value	$101,900	$123,200
Median gross rent	$806	$814
Housing units	7,587	9,420
Homeownership rate	73.5%	78.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	12.8%	19.8%
Unemployment rate	5.7%	2.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Lee County	Saluda County
Population	17,365 → 16,330 (-6.0%)	20,303 → 18,958 (-6.6%)
Median household income	$32,371 → $44,145 (+36.4%)	$45,714 → $52,957 (+15.8%)
Median home value	$78,800 → $101,900 (+29.3%)	$108,600 → $123,200 (+13.4%)
Median gross rent	$656 → $806 (+22.9%)	$661 → $814 (+23.1%)

Lee County

Population

17,36516,330

Median household income

$32,371$44,145

Median home value

$78,800$101,900

Median gross rent

$656$806

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)

	Lee County	Saluda County
Under 5	4.9%	5.8%
5 to 17	14.0%	16.0%
18 to 24	9.2%	7.8%
25 to 34	12.9%	10.2%
35 to 44	12.7%	12.0%
45 to 54	11.9%	12.8%
55 to 64	14.4%	15.2%
65 to 74	12.3%	11.5%
75 and over	7.8%	8.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Lee County	Saluda County
White (non-Hispanic)	33.2%	57.5%
Black or African American	62.2%	22.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	0.1%	0.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.8%
Two or more races	2.0%	2.5%
Hispanic or Latino	2.3%	16.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Lee County	Saluda County
No high school diploma	19.0%	16.0%
High school graduate	42.0%	37.8%
Some college or associate's	26.2%	26.4%
Bachelor's degree	8.5%	11.4%
Graduate or professional degree	4.3%	8.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Lee County	Saluda County
Drove alone	80.6%	79.7%
Carpooled	14.6%	7.8%
Public transit	0.0%	0.2%
Walked	1.3%	1.4%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	1.7%	5.4%
Other means	1.8%	5.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Lee County	Saluda County
1-unit, detached	60.5%	65.5%
1-unit, attached	0.3%	0.4%
2 to 4 units	4.6%	1.2%
5 to 19 units	1.4%	2.0%
20 or more units	0.8%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	32.4%	30.9%

Poverty & households

	Lee County	Saluda County
Poverty rate	23.3%	19.4%
Average household size	2.39	2.48
Mean commute (minutes)	28	30
Median year structure built	1982	1987