Census-designated place · Kershaw County, South Carolina

Lugoff, South Carolina

Lugoff is a census-designated place in Kershaw County, South Carolina, part of the Columbia, SC metro area. It has 9,786 residents. Lugoff, South Carolina has a quality-of-life score of 42 out of 100 (moderate), ranking #9,082 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within South Carolina it ranks #76 of 268 cities and towns. It ranks best on child care cost burden (low), income inequality (Gini index) (low) and job growth (high). It ranks worst on access to exercise opportunities (low), public EV charging ports (low) and dentists (low).

42Moderate

Quality-of-life score: #9,082 of 15,651 cities and towns
South Carolina: #76 of 268 in SC
Population: 9,786 (2020-2024)
Land area: 23 mi²
Density: 429.6 /mi²
FIPS code: 4543000

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 73 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety7#14,564/15,637
Economy70#4,729/15,631
Housing58#6,339/14,977
Health32#10,603/15,609
Healthcare30#10,918/15,650
Environment84#2,418/15,453
Education39#9,491/15,649
Infrastructure62#5,942/15,650
Community37#9,853/15,651
Leisure & amenities34#10,272/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Lugoff, South Carolina ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Kershaw County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Child care cost burden · low19.1%
96/100South Carolina 28.4%United States 27.9%2023 & 2024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteKershaw County value
Income inequality (Gini index) · low0.366
92/100South Carolina 0.475United States 0.4832020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B19083
Job growth · high2.2%
90/100South Carolina 0.7%United States 0.1%2026 Q1U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsProvisional dataKershaw County value
Effective property tax rate · low0.48%
89/100South Carolina 0.49%United States 0.94%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25090
Broadband subscriptions · high96.0%
89/100South Carolina 88.8%United States 91.0%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B28002
Drinking water violations · low0
86/100South Carolina 0United States 02024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteKershaw County value

Weaknesses

Access to exercise opportunities · low37.0%
4/100South Carolina 69.4%United States 84.5%2022 & 2024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteKershaw County value
Public EV charging ports · low1.0 /10k
11/100South Carolina 3.9 /10kUnited States 7.6 /10kOct 2026U.S. Department of EnergyKershaw County value
Dentists · low32 /100k
13/100South Carolina 60 /100kUnited States 75 /100k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteKershaw County value
Injury deaths · high121 /100k
14/100South Carolina 111 /100kUnited States 87 /100k2019-2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteKershaw County value
Violent crime rate · high437 /100k
14/100South Carolina 388 /100kUnited States 328 /100k2024Federal Bureau of InvestigationKershaw County value
Traffic deaths · high23.4 /100k
14/100South Carolina 20.5 /100kUnited States 12.3 /100k2020-2024National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationProvisional dataKershaw County value

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

PopulationRising
8,243 (2015-2019) → 9,786 (2020-2024)
+19%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Rent-burdened householdsImproving
65.9% (2015-2019) → 40.2% (2020-2024)
−26 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Child poverty rateImproving
29.2% (2015-2019) → 9.4% (2020-2024)
−20 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Rent as share of incomeImproving
43.1% (2015-2019) → 23.3% (2020-2024)
−20 pts5 yearsCensus table B25071US 29.8% → 30.6%
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
81.0% (2015-2019) → 96.0% (2020-2024)
+15 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Poverty rateImproving
19.0% (2015-2019) → 8.1% (2020-2024)
−11 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 12.3% → 12.1%

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Lugoff, South Carolina improved on 7 of 13 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 6 moved within the margin of error and 0 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved7

Rent / income−20 points43.1% → 23.3%
Child poverty−20 points29.2% → 9.4%
Rent burden−26 points65.9% → 40.2%
Poverty−11 points19.0% → 8.1%
Inequality−0.0910.457 → 0.366

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 13 measures

Change of every measure of Lugoff, South Carolina between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	26.4 min2015-2019	28.3 min2020-2024	+1.9 min	Within the margin of error	28%
Bachelor's degree or higher	26.5%2015-2019	29.7%2020-2024	+3.2 points	Within the margin of error	53%
Broadband subscriptions	81.0%2015-2019	96.0%2020-2024	+15 points	Improved	80%
Child poverty rate	29.2%2015-2019	9.4%2020-2024	−20 points	Improved	94%
Effective property tax rate	0.58%2015-2019	0.48%2020-2024	−0.1 points	Within the margin of error	35%
High school diploma or higher	93.0%2015-2019	93.6%2020-2024	+0.6 points	Within the margin of error	40%
Home price to income ratio	2.8×2015-2019	3.2×2020-2024	+0.4×	Within the margin of error	55%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4572015-2019	0.3662020-2024	−0.091	Improved	94%
Median household income	$52,1002015-2019	$69,4852020-2024	+33%	Improved	62%
Poverty rate	19.0%2015-2019	8.1%2020-2024	−11 points	Improved	94%
Rent as share of income	43.1%2015-2019	23.3%2020-2024	−20 points	Improved	99%
Rent-burdened households	65.9%2015-2019	40.2%2020-2024	−26 points	Improved	96%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	10.6%2015-2019	8.9%2020-2024	−1.7 points	Within the margin of error	66%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Lugoff, South Carolina five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Lugoff, South Carolina in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Lugoff, South Carolina itself moved +23.1 points in standing on average over the same 10 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

9,786 residents (±705)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79†
60–69

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

3,771 households (±269)

Lugoff, South Carolina
South Carolina share

Under $25k8.2%†308
$25k–50k26%980
$50k–75k18%697

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

3,771 households (±269)

Lugoff, South Carolina
South Carolina share

Own87%3,293
Rent13%478

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Own (+6.4 points).

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

4,749 workers (±451)

Lugoff, South Carolina
South Carolina share

Drive alone78%3,693
Carpool9.1%†431
Public transit0.0%0

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Columbia, SC

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Kershaw County, the county holding most of Lugoff's residents.

Kershaw County has 1,208 employer establishments, 172 for every 10,000 residents (0.69× the US rate of 248; 0.75× South Carolina's), with 14,923 paid employees at an average annual pay of $44,352. The Census Bureau also counts 5,941 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 1,208; 5,941 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 172; US 248 · South Carolina 228
Paid employees: 14,923
Average annual pay: $44,352; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Kershaw County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Specialty trade contractors	104	14.8	0.96×About typical	749	$55,195	544
Restaurants and other eating places	86	12.2	0.67×Fewer than typical	1,581	$18,720	33
Ambulatory health care services	77	10.9	0.53×Fewer than typical	717	$68,155	234
Religious organizations	59	8.4	1.51×More than typical	332	$21,843	—
Services to buildings and dwellings	50	7.1	1.05×About typical	228	$25,982	495
Gasoline stations	43	6.1	1.89×More than typical	364	$25,343	5
Full-service restaurants	40	5.7	0.74×Fewer than typical	568	$21,662	17
Limited-service restaurants	39	5.5	0.69×Fewer than typical	936	$17,526	11
Automotive repair and maintenance	37	5.3	1.04×About typical	123	$40,081	100
Construction of buildings	36	5.1	0.68×Fewer than typical	79	$58,848	194
Lessors of real estate	34	4.8	0.39×Fewer than typical	66	$28,500	473
Building equipment contractors	31	4.4	0.73×Fewer than typical	183	$46,109	99

Rank places for an industry Open Kershaw County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 70,331 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $965 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Lugoff, South Carolina: $0.10 per resident (US $1,995).

Obligations: $965
Per resident: $0.10; US $1,995
Sole-source: 0.0%; US 30%
Single offer: 0.0%; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management$965100%

Top recipients

THEKILUNGUZ LLC$965100%
S M RESOURCES CORPORATION, INC.$00.0%

Spending by fiscal year

1.3KFY2018
5.9KFY2019
14.9KFY2021
0FY2022
498.2FY2023
0FY2024
0FY2025
964.9FY2026

Top industries (NAICS)

Other professional, scientific, and technical services · 5419$965100%

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 6, 2026, loaded Oct 6, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Lugoff, South Carolina, so they do not add up across cities.

Lugoff, South Carolina's figures are part of those of Kershaw County, SC ($45.2K in FY2026), never added to them: 2.1% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Lugoff is mostly in Kershaw County.

See federal money in Kershaw County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Lugoff, South Carolina is represented in the 119th Congress by these members.

House

Ralph NormanR-SC-5 · 100% of residentsWith party 98%Missed 11.3%

Senate

Explore Congress The 2026 races

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Kershaw County42100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Columbia, SC54

Other cities and towns in Kershaw County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/4543000

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends