South Carolina’s rural homicide problem

Previously, we published a report explaining that some rural South Carolina counties have homicide rates as high as Chicago. This is our second update.

We now have five year averages for each county. The figures come from annual reports published by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division [SLED]. Note that SLED continues to update the total number of homicides after the annual reports come out. However, they never update the totals for each county. So a small amount of data is missing. Some numbers would actually be higher. Also, data for Edgefield was missing in the 2018-2021 reports. So their total is based solely on the number of homicides they reported in 2022.

The population figures and racial percentages are based on current 2020 numbers. The claim that high homicide rates are connected to urbanization falls flat. Race, not urbanization, is by far the most significant predictor of homicide rates in South Carolina.

County	Population	Black %	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	Rate

Pickens	132,229	7%	4	4	3	2	4	2.57
Oconee	79,203	8%	5	5	7	6	4	6.82
Horry	365,579	13%	29	15	33	30	28	7.39
Anderson	206,908	16%	14	18	16	16	9	7.06
Beaufort	191,748	17%	10	10	11	11	9	5.32
Lexington	300,137	17%	12	15	18	16	18	5.26
Greenville	533,834	19%	23	34	43	31	28	5.96
York	288,595	20%	10	9	19	25	15	5.41
Cherokee	56,052	21%	8	3	3	5	3	7.85
Lancaster	100,335	21%	3	7	3	4	6	4.58
Spartanburg	335,864	21%	24	23	10	17	27	6.01
Saluda	18,821	24%	1	0	2	6	2	11.69
Berkely	236,701	25%	8	18	17	21	15	6.68
Kershaw	66,130	25%	3	4	8	9	7	9.38
Laurens	67,803	25%	3	4	5	7	3	6.49
Aiken	170,775	26%	14	12	24	26	25	11.83
Charleston	413,024	26%	46	46	56	68	48	12.78
Abbeville	24,299	27%	4	4	0	0	4	9.88
Dorchester	163,327	27%	6	7	8	10	7	4.65
Georgetown	63,921	30%	7	6	8	10	8	12.20
Newberry	37,996	30%	1	6	3	5	6	11.05
Greenwood	69,241	32%	7	2	6	12	8	10.11
Union	27,016	32%	3	1	3	2	1	7.40
Chesterfield	43,268	33%	1	5	10	8	4	12.94
Edgefield	26,153	34%	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	2	7.65
Jasper	30,324	36%	4	1	9	5	2	13.85
Chester	32,209	37%	3	8	13	3	6	20.49
Colleton	38,462	37%	9	11	6	16	11	27.56
Calhoun	14,165	40%	1	0	7	0	0	11.30
Darlington	62,755	42%	8	13	13	23	9	21.03
McCormick	9,760	43%	1	0	0	1	1	6.15
Barnwell	20,580	44%	3	3	11	8	7	31.10
Florence	136,504	44%	26	20	26	22	41	19.78
Clarendon	31,024	47%	3	4	7	5	3	14.18
Dillon	28,087	47%	6	6	23	7	13	39.16
Sumter	104,758	48%	7	13	20	13	14	12.79
Richland	418,307	50%	43	53	42	54	46	11.38
Marlboro	26,328	51%	4	6	5	9	8	24.31
Hampton	18,180	53%	3	3	0	2	5	14.30
Fairfield	20,690	56%	1	2	6	6	3	17.40
Marion	28,784	57%	10	3	11	8	8	27.79
Bamberg	13,189	60%	1	5	1	3	3	19.71
Orangeburg	82,962	62%	6	20	19	27	31	24.83
Lee	16,280	63%	1	1	6	5	6	23.34
Williamsburg	30,848	64%	5	10	8	0	4	17.51
Allendale	7,858	73%	2	1	3	2	2	25.45

Initial Count			393	417	552	566	514

Updated			408	456	567	573