Lexington County, SC

County Profile

304,887 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Lexington County, SC.

Several figures AreaProfile publishes are measured by county and nowhere finer — death rates by intent among them. On this page those describe the geography they are printed on, which is not true of the city and ZIP pages that inherit them.

76out of 100
Area Score
Top 8% of 1,225 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 6% of 1,255 counties measured82
SchoolsTop 42% of 973 counties measured57
GrowthTop 10% of 1,226 counties measured74
Housing affordabilityTop 27% of 1,255 counties measured99
ClimateTop 37% of 1,254 counties measured72
Physical resilience641st of 1,255 counties measured60
AccessTop 6% of 1,255 counties measured98
Economic stabilityTop 30% of 1,255 counties measured75
The quick read

Lexington County ranks in the top 6% of published profiles for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 3.7% and median household income of $77,408.

In the public schools here, 38% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 13.2 students for every teacher.

A major airport is 9 miles away, giving the area unusually direct access to the national air network.

At a glance

Population
304,887
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$77,408
Top 22% nationally
Density
436/sq mi
698.6 sq mi of land
Median age
39.8
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Lexington County
South Carolina
Metro area
Columbia, SC
Nearest major airport
CAE
9 mi · Columbia Metro
Median home value
$234,500
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.7% is lower than 70% of the 1,255 measured US locations.

Employment grew 2.6% over the past year, to 156,852 employed residents.

34% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 84% of measured US locations.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$1,670$77,408Top 22%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$722$39,667Top 27%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate11.1%Bottom 32%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute27.6 minTop 37%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher34.1%Top 16%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Employment156,852Top 18%of 1,255June 2026
Employment change (3 years)5.3%Top 8%of 1,255June 2026
Employment change (year over year)2.6%Top 4%of 1,255June 2026
Labor force162,941Top 18%of 1,255June 2026
Labor force participation64.6%Top 20%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.3%Bottom 29%of 1,255June 2026
Unemployment rate3.7%Bottom 30%of 1,255June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/064.22.4
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 3.7% in June 2026. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202477k66k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $77,408 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — Columbia, SC
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Fast Food and Counter Workers11,640$27,170
Retail Salespersons10,860$29,540
Customer Service Representatives10,430$37,430
Stockers and Order Fillers9,470$37,180
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand9,410$37,530
Registered Nurses9,400$81,920

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

38% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 43% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 13.2 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
71
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
13.2
across all schools here
Math proficiency
38.0%
Top 47% in South Carolina
Reading proficiency
42.5%
Top 50% in South Carolina
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Lexington HighLexington 012,53615.6
River Bluff HighLexington 012,11716.2
White Knoll HighLexington 012,02515.3
American Leadership Academy South Carolina-Lexington Campu · charterCharter Institute at Erskine1,97912.6
Chapin HighLexington 051,61716.3
Airport HighLexington 021,27217.4
Irmo HighLexington 051,27212.0
Brookland-Cayce HighLexington 021,21212.4
Gilbert HighLexington 011,13814.8
Beechwood MiddleLexington 011,03314.546%
Riverbank ElementaryLexington 0299612.438%33%
Irmo MiddleLexington 0599211.424%35%

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against South Carolina’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $1,178 takes 18% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 3.0 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
18.3%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.0×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,178
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$234,500
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income3.03Top 47%of 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate77.4%Top 33%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±118132,916Top 7%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$29$1,178Top 18%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$3,042$234,500Top 32%of 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income18.3%Top 36%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate8.2%Bottom 20%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
74/ 100
Top 10% of 1,226 published city profiles
Permitting is increasing, measured from 2020 to 2025.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has grown 6% since 2020, reaching 313,774 in 2024.

Permitting has turned upward after moving the other way the year before.

Population is still rising, but more slowly than in the preceding year.

New construction is predominantly single-family: only 0% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.

At 6.2 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US locations.

Units permitted
1,891
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
6.2
Top 21% nationally
Year over year
−6%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
20202021202220232024314k295k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
2020202120222023202420253k2k
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2020 (−18%).

Weather & climate

6 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 93°F and January a low of 35°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 45.2 inches, including 1.2 inches of snow.

20°40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station COLUMBIA, 9.7 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND5.3"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation45.2"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall1.2"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low35°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high93°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months61991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing37°F1991-2020 Normals

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today.

Physical risk

60 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are hurricane, earthquake and ice storm.

Ice stormModerate
LightningModerate
HurricaneElevated
EarthquakeElevated
LandslideModerate

Low or minimal exposure: tornado, strong wind, heat wave, inland flooding, hail, cold wave, winter weather, wildfire, drought.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA National Risk Index county record. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences — they say nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Lexington County records 4.8 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 18.1 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 22.9 per 100,000 residents in Lexington County.

Homicide
4.8
per 100,000 residents
Firearm deaths, all intents
18.1
per 100,000 residents
Drug overdose
22.9
per 100,000 residents
Suicide
18.1
per 100,000 residents

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Lexington County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Lexington County rather than Lexington County itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
Offences reported to police are published by department rather than by town, and only where a department reported every month of the year. No municipal department reports for this place — many smaller communities are policed by the county — so there is no figure to show. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Taxes and full cost of living
No public source publishes either with national coverage and a method open enough to check. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings. Nothing here is individualised tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house. School attendance zones, insurance pricing and the character of a neighbourhood all vary within the places measured here.

Access

4 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 9 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Columbia MetroCAE9 mi8,601 ft
Augusta Rgnl At Bush FldAGS54 mi8,001 ft
Donaldson FldGYH87 mi8,000 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Area Score
76
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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.