For more background, click here to read our original report.
South Carolina has a lot of very rural counties, but many have homicide rates that are quite high. Here is the average homicide rate for each county from 2018-2021. Population figures are for 2020.
Murders per year, per county from South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division [SLED]:
| County | Population | Black % | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | Ave. per 100k |
| Pickens | 132,229 | 7% | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2.46 |
| Oconee | 79,203 | 8% | 5 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 7.26 |
| Horry | 365,579 | 13% | 29 | 15 | 33 | 30 | 7.32 |
| Beaufort | 191,748 | 17% | 10 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 5.48 |
| Lexington | 300,137 | 17% | 12 | 15 | 18 | 16 | 5.08 |
| Saluda | 18,821 | 18% | 1 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 11.95 |
| Greenville | 533,834 | 19% | 23 | 34 | 43 | 31 | 6.13 |
| York | 288,595 | 20% | 10 | 9 | 19 | 25 | 5.46 |
| Cherokee | 56,052 | 21% | 8 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 8.47 |
| Lancaster | 100,335 | 21% | 3 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 4.24 |
| Spartanburg | 335,864 | 21% | 24 | 23 | 10 | 17 | 5.51 |
| Berkely | 236,701 | 25% | 8 | 18 | 17 | 21 | 6.76 |
| Kershaw | 66,130 | 25% | 3 | 4 | 8 | 9 | 9.07 |
| Laurens | 67,803 | 25% | 3 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 7.01 |
| Aiken | 170,775 | 26% | 14 | 12 | 24 | 26 | 11.13 |
| Charleston | 413,024 | 26% | 46 | 46 | 56 | 68 | 13.07 |
| Abbeville | 24,299 | 27% | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 8.23 |
| Dorchester | 163,327 | 27% | 6 | 7 | 8 | 10 | 4.75 |
| Georgetown | 63,921 | 30% | 7 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 12.12 |
| Newberry | 37,996 | 30% | 1 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 9.87 |
| Greenwood | 69,241 | 32% | 7 | 2 | 6 | 12 | 9.75 |
| Union | 27,016 | 32% | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 8.33 |
| Chesterfield | 43,268 | 33% | 1 | 5 | 10 | 8 | 13.87 |
| Edgefield | 26,153 | 34% | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Jasper | 30,324 | 34% | 4 | 1 | 9 | 5 | 15.66 |
| Anderson | 206,908 | 35% | 14 | 18 | 16 | 16 | 7.73 |
| Chester | 32,209 | 37% | 3 | 8 | 13 | 3 | 20.96 |
| Colleton | 38,462 | 37% | 9 | 11 | 6 | 16 | 27.30 |
| Calhoun | 14,165 | 40% | 1 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 14.12 |
| Darlington | 62,755 | 42% | 8 | 13 | 13 | 23 | 22.71 |
| McCormick | 9,760 | 43% | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5.12 |
| Barnwell | 20,580 | 44% | 3 | 3 | 11 | 8 | 30.37 |
| Florence | 136,504 | 44% | 26 | 20 | 26 | 22 | 17.22 |
| Clarendon | 31,024 | 47% | 3 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 15.31 |
| Dillon | 28,087 | 47% | 6 | 6 | 23 | 7 | 37.38 |
| Sumter | 104,758 | 48% | 7 | 13 | 20 | 13 | 12.65 |
| Richland | 418,307 | 50% | 43 | 53 | 42 | 54 | 11.47 |
| Marlboro | 26,328 | 51% | 4 | 6 | 5 | 9 | 22.79 |
| Hampton | 18,180 | 53% | 3 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 11.00 |
| Fairfield | 20,690 | 56% | 1 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 18.12 |
| Marion | 28,784 | 57% | 10 | 3 | 11 | 8 | 27.79 |
| Bamberg | 13,189 | 60% | 1 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 18.96 |
| Orangeburg | 82,962 | 62% | 6 | 20 | 19 | 27 | 21.70 |
| Lee | 16,280 | 63% | 1 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 19.96 |
| Williamsburg | 30,848 | 64% | 5 | 10 | 8 | 0 | 18.64 |
| Allendale | 7,858 | 73% | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 25.45 |
Murders for Edgefield are missing from reports.
McCormick may be missing data as well. However, SLED reported three murders for McCormick in 2017. If this year was added, it would double the county’s homicide rate in our chart.
Each year, the South Carolina State Police raises the previous year’s murder total in each new annual report. For example, the 2020 report listed 552 murders for that year. In the 2021 report, they raised the total to 561. So nine murders are missing from the 2020 county list. However, they never update the county lists to reflect the updated state totals.
South Carolina Homicides:
2018: 409 (5092K, 8.0 per 100k)
2019: 454 (5158k, 8.8 per 100k)
2020: 561 (5218k, 10.8 per 100k)
2021: 566 (5191k, 10.9 per 100k) – Highest since 1991 (1972 is the all time record)
