Side-by-side metrics and state or size-class ranks use the same Census and FBI fields shown on this profile. Results stay in the URL so you can bookmark or share them.
Place dossier plate
SheetSC-KERSHAW-SC · Kershaw, SC 2,220 pop · income 32nd pct
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Kershaw
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Kershaw on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Judson · lowest
33,600
Judson · lowest
33,600 median HH income
14.2% of the leader · rank #1
Babbie · near
58,068
Babbie · near
58,068 median HH income
24.5% of the leader · rank #2
Warsaw · near
58,074
Warsaw · near
58,074 median HH income
24.5% of the leader · rank #3
Kershaw · this city
58,077
Kershaw · this city
58,077 median HH income
24.5% of the leader · rank #4
Cunningham · near
58,077
Cunningham · near
58,077 median HH income
24.5% of the leader · rank #5
Big Sandy · near
58,083
Big Sandy · near
58,083 median HH income
24.5% of the leader · rank #6
Kiawah Island · highest
236,607
Kiawah Island · highest
236,607 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Kershaw on ACS population and median household income
. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 2,220.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Kershaw places in the 32nd percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
32nd
percentile, household income
26th
percentile, home value
46th
percentile, median rent
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Kershaw, SC
2,220 people live in Kershaw, South Carolina - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Kershaw brings in $58,077 a year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 14.4%. Kershaw's housing stock carries a median value of $145,800, and the median resident age is 34.5 years. 14.6% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 56.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The city is served by 6 public schools according to NCES Common Core of Data.
Living costs in South Carolina run below the national norm: the state registers 93.7 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Below Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,155 per month statewide. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts South Carolina's average monthly utility costs around $224 (state average). On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 70.7 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (High).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Kershaw's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from population change to work and mobility to housing and income to schools and households to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Kershaw, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, matched public-school count, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Population change
Is Kershaw growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Recent estimates point upward. Growth can increase housing demand and service needs, but the permit record must move in the same direction before calling it a supply response; the two series measure different things.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +309 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +17.9% change. No comparable local building-permit series is available here, so population change should not be read as a housing-supply measure. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
What does the journey to work look like in Kershaw?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. The profile is strongly car-oriented, so a relocation comparison should put trip distance, vehicle access, and household fuel costs ahead of a citywide commute average. The same-state peer links offer a more relevant benchmark than a national label.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 85.6%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
How far does income reach against housing in Kershaw?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 2.5 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 14.4%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
Which cities make useful reference points for Kershaw?
Within South Carolina, the closest population matches are Riverview (2,215 residents, $131,158 income); Ware Shoals (2,207 residents, $35,896 income); Judson (2,201 residents, $33,600 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Doniphan, MO (2,220 residents); Byesville, OH (2,220 residents); Heceta Beach, OR (2,220 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Kershaw?
The NCES join finds 6 public schools within the city match. 14.6% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
Matched public schools
6
Bachelor's degree+
14.6%
Poverty estimate
14.4%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Below median income · poverty 14.4% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
93.7 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, South Carolina average
F
City profile score · Kershaw, SC
37/100
4 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Cost of living B
93.7 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Household income F
$58,077
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
14.4%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
14.6%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Kershaw profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 70/100 (B) · 93.7 index
Household income: 32/100 (F) · $58,077
Poverty rate: 24/100 (F) · 14.4%
Bachelor's+ share: 19/100 (F) · 14.6%
How does Kershaw compare to other US cities?
Where Kershaw sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income32% higher than other cities
Home value26% pricier than other cities
Median rent46% pricier than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Kershaw against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to South Carolina only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
South Carolina-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Kershaw near the bottom of South Carolina's cities
Among the 441 South Carolina cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Kershaw ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Kershaw only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#152 of 403
62nd percentile in South Carolina
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 441
0th percentile in South Carolina
Median Home Value
#224 of 404
45th percentile in South Carolina
Poverty Rate
#210 of 439
52nd percentile in South Carolina
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#287 of 441
34th percentile in South Carolina
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within South Carolina only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
32nd percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Kershaw's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$145,800Among the most affordablemore affordable than 74% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Kershaw's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.5×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#4,050 of 15,516
More affordable than 74% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#3,645 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.5×, Kershaw sits in the affordable band:
national rank #4,050 of 15,516 and #3,645 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
The multiple is comparatively compact among tracked cities, but a low ratio can still coexist with slow demand or household-level hardship.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$58,077Kershaw, SC median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Kershaw, SC median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Kershaw, SC.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)14.6%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)14.4%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)56.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
2,220
Median Income
$58,077
Median Home Value
$145,800
Median Age
34.5
Poverty Rate
14.4%
Labor force participation
56.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
14.6%
Schools
Total Schools
6
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Kershaw's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
1,729 residents
2021
1,802 residents
2022
1,875 residents
2023
1,940 residents
2024
1,990 residents
2025
2,038 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
85.6%
Carpool
6.3%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.9%
Work from Home
5.3%
Other
1.9%
Based on 882 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
South Carolina statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $224
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across South Carolina at $224 (electricity about $130 , water and sewer about $42 ).
These are South Carolina statewide averages, not a meter reading for Kershaw. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
South Carolina's BEA cost-of-living index is 93.7 (Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Kershaw is $1,155/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to South Carolina statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 70.7 / 100 (High).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a South Carolina statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Kershaw sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Kershaw compares to similar-size South Carolina cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, NCES CCD, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.