Where does South Carolina rank for food access among U.S. states?

South Carolina ranks #8 of 50 and sits in the upper third by population-weighted low-access (28.7%), per USDA FARA 2019.

What share of South Carolina has low food access?

28.7% of South Carolina residents live in low-access areas (population-weighted) (+6.6 pts vs U.S.), per USDA FARA 2019.

How many food deserts are in South Carolina?

218 census tracts in South Carolina are USDA food deserts (~451K low-income low-access residents); ~4.74 tracts per county.

What is the SNAP participation rate in South Carolina?

Across South Carolina, 10.5% of households receive SNAP (ACS 2024) (-1.6 pts vs U.S.) - mid tercile among states.

Which county in South Carolina has the worst food access?

Beaufort County has the highest low-access share at 49.0% (~6.0% of statewide low-access residents), with 5.2% SNAP.

Signature · 218 LILA tracts (4.74/county)

Food access in South Carolina

South Carolina sits in the upper third nationally on low-access (28.7%, +6.6 pts vs U.S.), with USDA FARA 2019 + ACS 2024 context for 46 counties.

Compiled by Plainfoodaccess, Food Access Editorial Process · December 31, 2024

28.7%
low-access pop.: 218
food-desert tracts: 10.5%
on SNAP: 46
counties

USDA FARA state access plate

State SC · South Carolina

LA-ELEVATED · ABOVE-NATIONAL · LILA-CLUSTER · SNAP-LIGHT · VEH-OK · BOOK-LIGHT

LA-ELEVATED 28.7% low-access
ABOVE-NATIONAL +6.6 pts vs US
LILA-CLUSTER 218 food-desert tracts
SNAP-LIGHT 10.5% SNAP
VEH-OK 5.7% no vehicle
BOOK-LIGHT 46 counties

Nearest low-access peer: Indiana (+ 0.0 pts)

Where South Carolina sits by county inventory

South Carolina covers 46 counties among 51 states and DC (atlas inventory, not a food-access quality ranking). Orthogonal to the low-access / SNAP charts below.

South Carolina vs all states by county count

Where this state's county inventory sits among every tracked jurisdiction

46 31st of 51 higher than 20 of 51 states

Jurisdictions, banded by county inventory

Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more states. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source USDA Food Access Research Atlas / Census county inventory · 2026-06-23

Upper-band statewide picture

According to USDA FARA, South Carolina is in the upper third on low-access (28.7%, #8 of 50; ~1.3M residents) - +6.6 pts vs the U.S. mean.

#8
among states by low-access: 1.3M
low-access residents: 451K
food-desert residents: 5.7%
households, no vehicle

Population-weighted tract shares (not a county average). Upper-band states often pair elevated low-access with clustered LILA tracts.

South Carolina among higher low-access states

South Carolina ringed at #8 of 50 by population-weighted low-access. Click any state to compare.

USDA Economic Research Service, Food Access Research Atlas (2019), population-weighted · Census ACS 2024 context

Signature read: 218 LILA tracts (4.74/county) .

South Carolina sits in the upper third of states by population-weighted low-access share (28.7% , #8 of 50). The Atlas marks 218 food-desert tracts here (451K low-income low-access residents). Beaufort County alone holds about 6.0% of the state's low-access residents.

States near South Carolina's elevated low-access or SNAP band

Two USDA/ACS-derived peer sets for South Carolina. Neighbourhood chart below is local poles; these panels are full-corpus nearest neighbours excluding this state.

Similar low-access share

Nearest population-weighted low-access rates (28.7% here).

Indiana · 28.7% low-access
North Dakota · 28.9% low-access
South Dakota · 29.1% low-access
Massachusetts · 27.8% low-access

Similar SNAP participation

Nearest household SNAP rates (10.5% here), deduped against the low-access panel.

Arizona · 10.4% SNAP
Vermont · 10.6% SNAP
Alaska · 10.7% SNAP
Arkansas · 10.2% SNAP

Source: USDA Food Access Research Atlas (2019) + Census ACS 2024 SNAP. Floor county_count ≥ 5.

NM

31.7
SD

29.1
ND

28.9
SC

28.7
IN

28.7
MA

27.8
DC

4.6

Beaufort

49
Richland

46.5
Pickens

42.6
Colleton

38
Anderson

36.1
Greenville

35.7
Spartanburg

34
Kershaw

33.5

All counties in South Carolina

County	Population	Low-access	SNAP	No vehicle	Poverty
Beaufort County	195K	49.0%	5.2%	4.3%	9.6%
Richland County	422K	46.5%	10.6%	7.2%	17.2%
Pickens County	135K	42.6%	8.3%	6.4%	17.2%
Colleton County	39K	38.0%	23.4%	10.4%	19.6%
Anderson County	210K	36.1%	10.6%	5.7%	14.6%
Greenville County	548K	35.7%	7.6%	4.7%	10.8%
Spartanburg County	348K	34.0%	10.9%	4.5%	14.5%
Kershaw County	68K	33.5%	11.8%	4.1%	13.2%
Lexington County	305K	32.8%	9.7%	4.5%	11.1%
York County	294K	31.9%	6.5%	3.7%	8.4%
Edgefield County	27K	29.8%	12.3%	7.8%	17.8%
Aiken County	174K	29.1%	10.8%	5.9%	14.3%
Berkeley County	247K	29.0%	7.1%	4.0%	9.9%
Newberry County	38K	28.7%	12.8%	6.7%	17.4%
Lancaster County	104K	28.5%	9.7%	3.4%	11.4%
Orangeburg County	83K	28.4%	20.7%	9.0%	22.4%
Bamberg County	13K	27.1%	24.1%	12.9%	24.3%
Georgetown County	65K	26.4%	11.5%	5.2%	15.0%
Dorchester County	167K	25.0%	8.9%	3.5%	11.4%
Fairfield County	21K	23.4%	21.0%	5.9%	15.6%
Horry County	383K	23.4%	7.5%	4.8%	13.2%
Oconee County	80K	22.8%	11.4%	5.2%	17.6%
Charleston County	420K	20.8%	6.4%	5.9%	11.3%
Marlboro County	26K	20.6%	23.0%	15.5%	28.5%
Abbeville County	24K	20.4%	14.5%	6.6%	15.7%
Sumter County	105K	19.0%	15.7%	8.4%	16.6%
Florence County	137K	17.8%	16.1%	7.6%	18.7%
Clarendon County	31K	16.5%	17.1%	10.1%	15.4%
Chester County	32K	15.9%	16.7%	6.3%	18.7%
Laurens County	69K	15.7%	17.5%	5.7%	18.1%
Greenwood County	69K	13.6%	13.6%	7.4%	15.1%
Hampton County	18K	12.7%	19.4%	11.0%	20.7%
Darlington County	63K	12.5%	19.5%	10.4%	21.1%
Cherokee County	57K	11.5%	14.1%	5.4%	18.4%
Chesterfield County	44K	11.1%	18.0%	9.0%	20.3%
Jasper County	32K	9.8%	11.2%	4.4%	17.8%
Williamsburg County	30K	8.0%	21.0%	12.8%	23.3%
Union County	27K	7.9%	19.6%	10.2%	22.6%
McCormick County	10K	6.3%	10.6%	4.1%	17.6%
Lee County	16K	5.0%	27.4%	10.4%	25.0%
Dillon County	28K	4.5%	24.0%	9.8%	27.7%
Saluda County	19K	2.9%	13.9%	4.4%	18.7%
Allendale County	8K	2.3%	28.7%	18.0%	28.2%
Calhoun County	14K	1.0%	13.2%	5.5%	12.9%
Marion County	29K	0.2%	22.3%	8.3%	30.0%
Barnwell County	21K	0.0%	24.5%	10.6%	25.0%

Source: USDA ERS Food Access Research Atlas (2019) + U.S. Census Bureau ACS (2024 5-year). Sorted by low-access share, highest first.

Figures from USDA Food Access Research Atlas (2019) and Census ACS 2024 5-year. Compiled 2026-06-23. Methodology · All states.

PlainFoodAccess renders this state summary directly from the USDA Food Access Research Atlas (2019) and U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey (2024 5-year estimates), no number is typed in by an editor. Statewide figures for South Carolina are population-weighted aggregates of county Atlas and ACS records. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026-06-23. Primary sources: USDA Food Access Research Atlas and Census ACS 5-year estimates.