Marion County vs Union County

A side-by-side comparison of Marion County and Union County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Marion County has the higher population (28,900 vs 26,990 in Union County). Union County has the higher median household income ($41,200 vs $34,501 in Marion County). Union County has the higher median home value ($100,000 vs $86,800 in Marion County).

Population, income & housing

	Marion County	Union County
Population	28,900	26,990
Median age	43.0 yrs	44.3 yrs
Median household income	$34,501	$41,200
Median home value	$86,800	$100,000
Median gross rent	$663	$770
Housing units	14,418	13,508
Homeownership rate	62.2%	69.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	13.8%	13.5%
Unemployment rate	5.9%	7.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Marion County	Union County
Population	31,308 → 28,900 (-7.7%)	27,490 → 26,990 (-1.8%)
Median household income	$32,063 → $34,501 (+7.6%)	$41,186 → $41,200 (+0.0%)
Median home value	$76,700 → $86,800 (+13.2%)	$80,000 → $100,000 (+25.0%)
Median gross rent	$594 → $663 (+11.6%)	$690 → $770 (+11.6%)

Marion County

Population

31,30828,900

Median household income

$32,063$34,501

Median home value

$76,700$86,800

Median gross rent

$594$663

Union County

Population

27,49026,990

Median household income

$41,186$41,200

Median home value

$80,000$100,000

Median gross rent

$690$770

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Marion County	Union County
Under 5	5.2%	5.4%
5 to 17	17.2%	15.7%
18 to 24	7.7%	7.1%
25 to 34	10.8%	12.1%
35 to 44	12.0%	10.8%
45 to 54	12.1%	12.9%
55 to 64	13.8%	15.1%
65 to 74	13.5%	12.7%
75 and over	7.7%	8.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Marion County	Union County
White (non-Hispanic)	38.4%	64.1%
Black or African American	55.7%	28.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.3%
Asian	0.1%	0.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.2%
Two or more races	2.7%	4.4%
Hispanic or Latino	2.6%	1.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Marion County	Union County
No high school diploma	16.0%	19.3%
High school graduate	48.9%	37.7%
Some college or associate's	21.4%	29.5%
Bachelor's degree	8.4%	10.3%
Graduate or professional degree	5.3%	3.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Marion County	Union County
Drove alone	85.0%	80.4%
Carpooled	8.3%	14.6%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	1.0%	1.4%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	4.5%	2.5%
Other means	1.2%	1.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Marion County	Union County
1-unit, detached	55.9%	67.9%
1-unit, attached	0.4%	0.2%
2 to 4 units	6.2%	4.0%
5 to 19 units	1.6%	2.6%
20 or more units	0.0%	3.5%
Mobile home & other	35.9%	21.9%

Poverty & households

	Marion County	Union County
Poverty rate	27.3%	22.7%
Average household size	2.43	2.26
Mean commute (minutes)	29	28
Median year structure built	1983	1973