Marlboro County vs Union County

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

Marlboro 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.

Union County has the higher population (26,990 vs 26,285 in Marlboro County). Union County has the higher median household income ($41,200 vs $36,293 in Marlboro County). Union County has the higher median home value ($100,000 vs $74,500 in Marlboro County).

Population, income & housing

	Marlboro County	Union County
Population	26,285	26,990
Median age	41.2 yrs	44.3 yrs
Median household income	$36,293	$41,200
Median home value	$74,500	$100,000
Median gross rent	$686	$770
Housing units	12,059	13,508
Homeownership rate	63.0%	69.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	8.7%	13.5%
Unemployment rate	8.4%	7.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Marlboro County	Union County
Population	26,753 → 26,285 (-1.7%)	27,490 → 26,990 (-1.8%)
Median household income	$33,586 → $36,293 (+8.1%)	$41,186 → $41,200 (+0.0%)
Median home value	$67,500 → $74,500 (+10.4%)	$80,000 → $100,000 (+25.0%)
Median gross rent	$610 → $686 (+12.5%)	$690 → $770 (+11.6%)

Marlboro County

Population

26,75326,285

Median household income

$33,586$36,293

Median home value

$67,500$74,500

Median gross rent

$610$686

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)

	Marlboro County	Union County
Under 5	5.3%	5.4%
5 to 17	14.8%	15.7%
18 to 24	7.9%	7.1%
25 to 34	13.9%	12.1%
35 to 44	12.6%	10.8%
45 to 54	12.6%	12.9%
55 to 64	14.3%	15.1%
65 to 74	11.3%	12.7%
75 and over	7.3%	8.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Marlboro County	Union County
White (non-Hispanic)	37.9%	64.1%
Black or African American	49.1%	28.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	3.4%	0.3%
Asian	0.4%	0.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	1.0%	0.2%
Two or more races	5.5%	4.4%
Hispanic or Latino	2.7%	1.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Marlboro County	Union County
No high school diploma	18.5%	19.3%
High school graduate	49.6%	37.7%
Some college or associate's	23.2%	29.5%
Bachelor's degree	6.0%	10.3%
Graduate or professional degree	2.7%	3.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Marlboro County	Union County
Drove alone	88.5%	80.4%
Carpooled	6.8%	14.6%
Public transit	0.3%	0.0%
Walked	0.9%	1.4%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.0%
Worked from home	2.3%	2.5%
Other means	0.7%	1.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Marlboro County	Union County
1-unit, detached	61.8%	67.9%
1-unit, attached	0.3%	0.2%
2 to 4 units	5.2%	4.0%
5 to 19 units	2.7%	2.6%
20 or more units	0.3%	3.5%
Mobile home & other	29.7%	21.9%

Poverty & households

	Marlboro County	Union County
Poverty rate	26.2%	22.7%
Average household size	2.45	2.26
Mean commute (minutes)	27	28
Median year structure built	1978	1973