Darlington County, South Carolina

• Income gap: Households earn meaningfully less than the national median, which directly affects retail demand, housing absorption, and tax base.
• Below the state median: Median household income runs $20,743 (29.9%) under the South Carolina median, so statewide income averages overstate local household buying power.
• Cost of living stretches income further: Local prices run 13.2% below the national average, so the nominal median of $48,581 is worth $55,969 at national average prices. BEA publishes price parity at metro level, not county level.
• Elevated poverty: At 21.1%, the rate is in economically distressed territory and supports federal funding narratives (CDFI, NMTC, EDA).
• Talent gap: Bachelor's-or-higher attainment trails the national average by 15.8 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.

• Largest private-sector industry: Manufacturing employs 3,770 workers (26.4% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $94,414. Every industry figure on this page is private sector; government employs a further 3,517 and is counted separately.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $3.4B (2024).
• Wage stratification: Manufacturing averages $94,414 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $18,669, a 5.1x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Heavy and Civil Engineering Construction concentrates at 6.30x the national norm, top-decile concentration, the kind of signature sector that defines a region's economic identity to site selectors.
• Cluster depth: 9 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 26.1% of the employment across them, the largest being resident household spending. Demand reaches this base from more than one market rather than from a single one.
• Attraction whitespace: 5 sub-sectors register LQ < 0.5 with at least 50 employed, candidates for diversification or recruitment depending on labor-market fit.

• In line with national: Home value to income ratio of 3.3x sits near the ~4.1x national average; affordability is neither a clear advantage nor a recruitment friction.
• High home ownership: 70.9% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Elevated vacancy: 14.1% of housing units are vacant, above the South Carolina rate of 13.3%, and up from 14% in 2019.
• Vacancy composition: the largest vacancy category is other vacant at 74% of vacant units, with seasonal and recreational use at 4.7%.
• Genuinely available supply: units listed for rent or for sale are 16.1% of the vacant stock, or 2.3% of all housing units against the 14.1% headline vacancy rate. Absorbable supply for an incoming employer is thin, and the gap between the two is the redevelopment and conversion opportunity.
• Rent affordability gap: None of the 5 HUD Fair Market Rent bedroom sizes sit below what a household on the median renter income of $28,417 can pay without cost burden (~$710/mo), and 46.9% of renter households are already cost-burdened, 25% severely so; workforce housing cost burden warrants attention.

• Succession risk is real: 23.4% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Low participation: 56.2% labor force participation. The labor force itself fell 4% between 2019 and 2024, from 29,579 to 28,399.
• Talent pipeline: 1 institution in Darlington County awards 271 credentials a year. Employers drawing from a wider labor shed should read this alongside institutions outside the county, which this page does not aggregate.

Darlington County shows strong potential for heavy and civil engineering construction attraction, with a 6.30x concentration and 898 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 23.4% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

The concentrated base spans heavy and civil engineering construction, wood product manufacturing, and fabricated metal product manufacturing, and no single source of demand accounts for more than 26.1% of the employment across them, the largest being resident household spending. Supply-chain recruitment has more than one demand base to work from.