Counties where children have the best opportunity for economic mobility in South Carolina
This story originally appeared on Wealth Enhancement Group and was produced and distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio.
Counties where children have the best opportunity for economic mobility in South Carolina
Americans have long understood that their birthplace can significantly affect their futures, and academics have increasingly been able to connect tangible early life factors like where they live and the friendships they've cultivated with potential future income.
Among the most recent studies shedding light on what's known as economic mobility—a person's ability to move themselves and their families up the socioeconomic ladder over their lifetime—are a series of papers authored by Harvard University researchers leveraging vast troves of social networking data.
As part of a national analysis, Wealth Enhancement Group used data from Harvard University's Social Capital Atlas project to identify where in South Carolina children have the best (and worst) chances at upward economic mobility.
The research draws on a privacy-protected dataset representing 21 billion friendships from Facebook made public through its parent company Meta's Data for Good project. It also uses anonymous tax records, according to the authors. The scholars assigned a score to locales according to how economically connected low- and high-income people living in the area have historically been over at least a decade, per that data. The dataset does not include scores for about 180 of the 3,000 or so counties in the U.S.
The research attempts to fill in the gaps of previous efforts to study American economic mobility that did not consider a person's vast social networks nor their importance in creating better lives for themselves and their children.
It turns out the ability to cultivate friendships linking people of different socioeconomic backgrounds with one another is the strongest factor in determining whether a child can surpass the earning potential of their parents, Harvard researchers found. They call this economic connectedness.
Read on to find out where economic connectedness is strongest in your state.
#46. Allendale County
- Median Income: $31,800
- Population: 8,304
--- 22.9% white
--- 73.2% Black
--- 0.2% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.8% Asian
#45. Marlboro County
- Median Income: $32,136
- Population: 26,912
--- 40% white
--- 50.1% Black
--- 3% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.3% Asian
#44. Dillon County
- Median Income: $39,780
- Population: 28,527
--- 46.4% white
--- 47.4% Black
--- 2.4% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.1% Asian
#43. Saluda County
- Median Income: $46,451
- Population: 19,008
--- 62.2% white
--- 24.5% Black
--- 0.1% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0% Asian
#42. Marion County
- Median Income: $34,465
- Population: 29,585
--- 38.7% white
--- 56.9% Black
--- 0.7% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.3% Asian
#41. Lee County
- Median Income: $36,195
- Population: 16,730
--- 33.7% white
--- 63% Black
--- 0% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.1% Asian
#40. Williamsburg County
- Median Income: $40,124
- Population: 31,279
--- 32.1% white
--- 64.4% Black
--- 0.4% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.6% Asian
#39. Union County
- Median Income: $40,048
- Population: 27,306
--- 64.9% white
--- 30% Black
--- 0.1% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.1% Asian
#38. Bamberg County
- Median Income: $44,408
- Population: 13,525
--- 37.2% white
--- 60.2% Black
--- 0.2% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.3% Asian
#37. Cherokee County
- Median Income: $41,330
- Population: 56,204
--- 73.5% white
--- 19.8% Black
--- 0.1% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.2% Asian
#36. Orangeburg County
- Median Income: $38,052
- Population: 84,909
--- 35% white
--- 61.8% Black
--- 0.4% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.8% Asian
#35. Barnwell County
- Median Income: $38,237
- Population: 20,801
--- 51.4% white
--- 46.6% Black
--- 0.1% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.1% Asian
#34. Hampton County
- Median Income: $38,298
- Population: 19,227
--- 41.2% white
--- 52.8% Black
--- 0% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.7% Asian
#33. Colleton County
- Median Income: $41,419
- Population: 38,520
--- 56.7% white
--- 35.9% Black
--- 0.9% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.5% Asian
#32. Darlington County
- Median Income: $40,704
- Population: 63,433
--- 55.7% white
--- 41.4% Black
--- 0.2% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.3% Asian
#31. Fairfield County
- Median Income: $41,755
- Population: 21,186
--- 39.3% white
--- 57.3% Black
--- 0.4% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.2% Asian
#30. Chesterfield County
- Median Income: $45,046
- Population: 43,655
--- 62.6% white
--- 31.2% Black
--- 0.2% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.5% Asian
#29. Chester County
- Median Income: $46,441
- Population: 32,273
--- 59.7% white
--- 37% Black
--- 0.4% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.5% Asian
#28. Laurens County
- Median Income: $46,754
- Population: 67,148
--- 69.3% white
--- 22.9% Black
--- 0.1% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.5% Asian
#27. Jasper County
- Median Income: $47,811
- Population: 28,363
--- 49.4% white
--- 39% Black
--- 0.3% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.6% Asian
#26. Greenwood County
- Median Income: $44,513
- Population: 69,338
--- 62.7% white
--- 32% Black
--- 0.1% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.8% Asian
#25. Clarendon County
- Median Income: $45,542
- Population: 31,613
--- 48.9% white
--- 46.4% Black
--- 0.1% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.8% Asian
#24. Florence County
- Median Income: $51,902
- Population: 137,276
--- 51.6% white
--- 43% Black
--- 0.2% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 1.4% Asian
#23. Georgetown County
- Median Income: $55,719
- Population: 62,992
--- 65.2% white
--- 30.6% Black
--- 0.1% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.6% Asian
#22. Newberry County
- Median Income: $50,950
- Population: 37,842
--- 61.9% white
--- 30.7% Black
--- 0.2% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.2% Asian
#21. Calhoun County
- Median Income: $52,491
- Population: 14,198
--- 56.1% white
--- 39.7% Black
--- 0.2% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.1% Asian
#20. Sumter County
- Median Income: $49,040
- Population: 105,537
--- 45.8% white
--- 46.1% Black
--- 0.2% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 1.3% Asian
#19. McCormick County
- Median Income: $53,193
- Population: 9,584
--- 52.2% white
--- 44.4% Black
--- 0% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.1% Asian
#18. Abbeville County
- Median Income: $45,710
- Population: 24,374
--- 69.7% white
--- 26.9% Black
--- 0.2% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.3% Asian
#17. Lancaster County
- Median Income: $67,407
- Population: 94,653
--- 73% white
--- 20.1% Black
--- 0.1% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 1.6% Asian
#16. Richland County
- Median Income: $56,137
- Population: 414,719
--- 43.1% white
--- 47.3% Black
--- 0.2% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 2.9% Asian
#15. Spartanburg County
- Median Income: $57,627
- Population: 322,864
--- 70.5% white
--- 20.3% Black
--- 0.2% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 2.2% Asian
#14. Aiken County
- Median Income: $57,572
- Population: 168,045
--- 68.4% white
--- 24.8% Black
--- 0.1% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 1% Asian
#13. Anderson County
- Median Income: $56,796
- Population: 202,223
--- 78.4% white
--- 15.4% Black
--- 0.3% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 1% Asian
#12. Edgefield County
- Median Income: $55,183
- Population: 25,938
--- 60% white
--- 34.2% Black
--- 0.3% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.2% Asian
#11. Oconee County
- Median Income: $52,842
- Population: 77,932
--- 85.8% white
--- 7.1% Black
--- 0.7% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.9% Asian
#10. Kershaw County
- Median Income: $56,449
- Population: 64,989
--- 69.5% white
--- 23.4% Black
--- 0% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.5% Asian
#9. Greenville County
- Median Income: $65,513
- Population: 519,178
--- 70.7% white
--- 17.2% Black
--- 0.4% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 2.5% Asian
#8. Dorchester County
- Median Income: $68,046
- Population: 160,180
--- 65.4% white
--- 24.8% Black
--- 0.3% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 2% Asian
#7. Lexington County
- Median Income: $65,623
- Population: 291,723
--- 76.1% white
--- 14.9% Black
--- 0.3% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 2% Asian
#6. Beaufort County
- Median Income: $74,199
- Population: 186,007
--- 72% white
--- 16.9% Black
--- 0.2% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 1.2% Asian
#5. Horry County
- Median Income: $54,688
- Population: 344,865
--- 80% white
--- 12.7% Black
--- 0.4% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 1.3% Asian
#4. Berkeley County
- Median Income: $70,786
- Population: 224,806
--- 65.1% white
--- 23.5% Black
--- 0.4% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 2.3% Asian
#3. Pickens County
- Median Income: $53,188
- Population: 129,617
--- 87% white
--- 6.4% Black
--- 0.1% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 1.8% Asian
#2. York County
- Median Income: $72,234
- Population: 276,569
--- 72.3% white
--- 18.9% Black
--- 0.6% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 2.6% Asian
#1. Charleston County
- Median Income: $70,807
- Population: 404,946
--- 67.4% white
--- 25.4% Black
--- 0.2% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 1.7% Asian
This story features data reporting and writing by Dom DiFurio and is part of a series utilizing data automation across 50 states.