York County, SC

County Profile

293,673 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for York 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.

83out of 100
Area Score
Top 1% of 1,225 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 9% of 1,255 counties measured80
SchoolsTop 1% of 973 counties measured94
GrowthTop 1% of 1,226 counties measured87
Housing affordability828th of 1,255 counties measured87
ClimateTop 20% of 1,254 counties measured75
Physical resilienceTop 26% of 1,255 counties measured77
AccessTop 25% of 1,255 counties measured91
Economic stabilityTop 10% of 1,255 counties measured89
The quick read

York County ranks in the top 9% of published profiles for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 4.2% and median household income of $89,095.

Development activity is both elevated and accelerating — 3,321 housing units permitted over the past twelve months, up 47% on the prior year.

Rent takes 19% of median household income here, below the 30% threshold conventionally called cost-burdened, and the median home is 4.1 times that income.

At a glance

Population
293,673
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$89,095
Top 10% nationally
Density
432/sq mi
680.6 sq mi of land
Median age
39.7
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
York County
South Carolina
Metro area
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC
Nearest major airport
CLT
21 mi · Charlotte/Douglas Intl
Median home value
$361,300
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.2% is lower than 50% of the 1,255 measured US locations.

Employment grew 3.4% over the past year, to 155,508 employed residents.

39% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 91% of measured US locations.

Household income is higher than at least 90% of measured US locations.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$2,015$89,095Top 10%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$903$45,199Top 12%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Per-capita personal income$63,406Top 30%of 1,2062023
Poverty rate8.4%Bottom 13%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute29.5 minTop 26%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher39.3%Top 9%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Employment155,508Top 18%of 1,255June 2026
Employment change (3 years)4.8%Top 10%of 1,255June 2026
Employment change (year over year)3.4%Top 2%of 1,255June 2026
Labor force162,310Top 18%of 1,255June 2026
Labor force participation67.2%Top 10%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.4%Bottom 25%of 1,255June 2026
Unemployment rate4.2%Top 50%of 1,255June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/064.92.7
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 4.2% 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
202120222023202489k72k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $89,095 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 — Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand40,540$38,850
Retail Salespersons35,150$33,580
Cashiers27,350$29,610
Fast Food and Counter Workers27,050$28,880
Registered Nurses27,010$90,620
Customer Service Representatives26,120$44,980

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.

51% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 52% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 13.8 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
67
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
13.8
across all schools here
Math proficiency
50.5%
Top 1% in South Carolina
Reading proficiency
52.0%
Top 1% in South Carolina
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Clover HighYork 022,71315.2
Fort Mill HighYork 042,11515.7
Rock Hill HighYork 031,98016.8
Nation Ford HighYork 041,92113.8
Northwestern HighYork 031,82217.0
Catawba Ridge High SchoolYork 041,70415.9
York Preparatory Academy · charterSC Public Charter School District1,67215.850%53%
York Comprehensive HighYork 011,51116.2
Oakridge MiddleYork 021,14614.157%57%
South Pointe HighYork 031,12813.4
Crowders Creek ElementaryYork 021,10413.574%65%
Clover MiddleYork 0296913.832%47%

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 $1,387 takes 19% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 4.1 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
18.7%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
4.1×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,387
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$361,300
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income4.06Top 19%of 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate74.5%Top 50%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±66120,653Top 8%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$34$1,387Top 10%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$4,843$361,300Top 12%of 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income18.7%Top 32%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate5.7%Bottom 8%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
87/ 100
Top 1% of 1,226 published city profiles
Permitting is broadly steady, 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 7% since 2020, reaching 303,001 in 2024.

At 11.3 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US locations.

Units permitted
3,321
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
11.3
Top 6% nationally
Year over year
+47%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
37.5%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
20202021202220232024303k284k
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 close to 2020 (+1%).

Weather & climate

7 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 90°F and January a low of 31°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 42.4 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 46, in the Good band, and one day a year passes 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

20°40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station ROCK HILL YORK CO AP, 7.2 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.0"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index64.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation42.4"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low31°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high90°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months71991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10012024 calendar year
Median air quality index46.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing38°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
46
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
64
90th percentile index
Days above 100
1
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

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. Air quality is measured rather than modelled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — roughly half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, and the rest show nothing rather than an estimate. Air masses are regional, so a county reading describes the air over a place reasonably well, but it is still the county reading.

Physical risk

77 / 100
Physical resilience

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

Ice stormElevated
LightningModerate
EarthquakeModerate
Cold waveHigh
HurricaneModerate
LandslideModerate

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

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.

York County records 6.0 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, higher than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 15.4 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 23.1 per 100,000 residents in York County.

Homicide
6.0
per 100,000 residents
Firearm deaths, all intents
15.4
per 100,000 residents
Drug overdose
23.1
per 100,000 residents
Suicide
12.1
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 York 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 York County rather than York 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
Taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Cost of living now is — the index above is the Bureau of Economic Analysis price parity for this area — but it is a price level for all consumption rather than a budget for a household, its spread is driven mostly by housing, and it excludes taxes. Housing affordability is computed separately from rent, price and income, because that answers a narrower and more actionable question. 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 21 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Charlotte/Douglas IntlCLT21 mi10,000 ft
Donaldson FldGYH69 mi8,000 ft
Columbia MetroCAE71 mi8,601 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
83
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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)
IncomeU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Regional price parities and county personal income
2023Annually, each December
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
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, once a calendar year is complete

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.