Population
8,910 residents
Census ACS 2023 — South Carolina
City profile · South Carolina · Census ACS 2023
Population, income, housing, safety, climate and schools for Seneca — drawn straight from Census ACS, FBI UCR, NOAA, NCES, HUD and FEMA, refreshed on the 2024–2025 release cycle.
Seneca is a city in South Carolina with a population of 8,910 residents based on U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here reaches $52,207 per year, while the poverty rate sits at 17.1%. Typical homes in Seneca are valued around $223,100, and the median resident age is 39.9 years. About 29.2% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 54.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 118 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Building Boom), up 131% from five years earlier. FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 2339.1 incidents per 1,000 residents, above the national average, indicating elevated public-safety concerns.
On a cost-of-living index where 100 equals the national average, South Carolina registers 93.7 (Near Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,155 per month. Average monthly utility bills run around $224 based on EIA 2023 residential energy data. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 70.7 out of 100 (High).
According to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2023 American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year estimates, PlainCities renders standardized city-level demographic, income, education, employment, and housing indicators across more than 19,000 incorporated places nationwide. Population counts and median household income figures are sourced directly from Census Table B01003 and B19013 respectively, with poverty rates from B17001 and cost-of-living adjustments from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) Regional Price Parities (RPP) 2024 release. Every value displayed in this snapshot links back to the official upstream tables and is refreshed on the ACS annual release cadence (typically December of the survey year + 1).
Methodology: city boundaries follow the Census Bureau's place-level geography (incorporated places, census-designated places, and consolidated city-county governments), with FIPS codes ensuring consistent identifiers across decennial and annual surveys. Cost-of-living comparisons use BEA's Regional Price Parities (RPP) indexed to the national average (100), enabling cross-city purchasing-power comparisons. See our methodology page for full source attribution, refresh cadence, and known data quality limitations including margin-of-error disclosure and sample-size thresholds.
Population
8,910 residents
Census ACS 2023 — South Carolina
Median Household Income
$52,207 /yr
Poverty 17.1%
Cost of Living Index
93.7 (US=100)
Near Average — BEA RPP 2024
Where Seneca sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure — computed live from Census and FBI data.
Percentiles compare Seneca against every US city with at least 1,000 residents. "Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Census ACS S1501 — educational attainment
Census ACS S1701 — poverty status
Census ACS S2301 — share of working-age residents in the labor force
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) — annual residential permits authorized
| Year | Total |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 51 |
| 2020 | 56 |
| 2021 | 68 |
| 2022 | 71 |
| 2023 | 79 |
| 2024 | 118 |
Permit volume increased 131% from 2019 to 2024.
How workers travel to work — Census ACS 2023
Based on 4,101 workers 16 and over.
State-average estimates for South Carolina — EIA 2023 residential energy data
Estimates reflect South Carolina state averages. Actual costs vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
South Carolina state-level data from PlainCost, PlainRent, and PlainHazard
National-average reference values shown when city-level race/ethnicity table is not loaded. Source: Census ACS 5-year, OMB Directive 15 race-and-ethnicity categories.
Census ACS 2023 — population and median income benchmarks
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Seneca, SC has a population of 8,910 according to U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates.
The median household income in Seneca is $52,207 per year, based on Census ACS 2023 data.
Seneca has a cost of living index of 93.7 (U.S. average = 100), rated "Near Average" based on BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 data.
Seneca has a total crime rate of 2339.1 per 1,000 residents, which is above the national average. Source: FBI UCR data.
The median home value in Seneca is $223,100, according to Census ACS 2023 estimates.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, FBI UCR, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, 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.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.