264,276 people (2024 Census estimate, +14.2% since 2020)
1,104 square miles of land · 239 people per square mile
“Highest” and “lowest” are just order, not grades: a high rank for poverty or hazard losses means more of it. Each figure's source is in its section below.
14 active community water systems list Berkeley County in the area they serve, reporting 163,737 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| BCWSA SANGAREE W/D (0820002) buys surface water · local government · SC0820002 | 95,345 served |
| GOOSE CREEK CITY OF (SC0810004) buys surface water · local government · SC0810004 | 43,744 served |
| BCWSA EAST COOPER (SC0820009) buys surface water · local government · SC0820009 | 12,933 served |
| MONCKS CORNER CITY OF buys surface water · local government · SC0810001 | 8,956 served |
| JAMESTOWN TOWN OF (SC0810003) groundwater · local government · SC0810003 | 800 served |
| MACDOUGALL CORRECTIONAL INST (SC0870050) groundwater · state · SC0870050 | 790 served |
| BCWSA SINEATH MHP (0850018) buys surface water · local government · SC0850018 | 594 served |
| O HAYNES SYSTEM (0850014) groundwater · private · SC0850014 | 205 served |
Source: U.S. EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), active community systems, . Look up any system's violations and test results with EPA's search using its ID.
About 357 people were held in Berkeley County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2021), or 230 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2016 it was about 394.
Source: Vera Institute of Justice, Incarceration Trends (built from federal Bureau of Justice Statistics jail surveys). Counties without their own jail, or that share one, may show no figure.
1 school district has its office in Berkeley County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $577 million — $485.9 million to run schools, about $12,810 per student, plus $72.6 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $300.6 million local (mostly property tax), $270.6 million state, $84.2 million federal. Long-term debt: $1.1 billion.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2023 Annual Survey of School System Finances. Districts are listed by the county of their main office; some serve neighboring counties too.
Source: County Health Rankings & Roadmaps 2025 (University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute), which gathers federal data (CDC, Census, and others); measures cover different recent years. Blank lines aren't reported for small counties.
Overall risk: Relatively High compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Berkeley County about $213.5 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively High; social vulnerability: Very Low.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
217 bridges in Berkeley County: 79 in good condition, 130 fair, and 8 poor (3.7%). “Poor” means a main part — the deck, the beams, or the supports — is rated 4 or lower on the federal 0–9 scale. It doesn't mean unsafe to drive; unsafe bridges are closed.
| S-8-62 over I-26 · built 1961 | 39,100 vehicles a day |
| US 52/US 17 ALT over COOPER RIVER · built 1944 | 29,000 vehicles a day |
| US 52 over REDIVERSION CANAL · built 1983 | 4,700 vehicles a day |
| SC 41 over NICHOLSON CREEK · built 1941 | 2,600 vehicles a day |
| S-8-35 over REDIVERSION CANAL · built 1982 | 1,550 vehicles a day |
| CANE GULLY BRANCH- over BRANCH · built 1978 | 50 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $31.4 million of work in Berkeley County in fiscal 2025, about $137 per resident — to the county, cities, schools, hospitals, nonprofits and others.
Source: USAspending.gov, grants by place of performance, fiscal 2025 (Oct. 2024 to Sept. 2025). Search it by county to see each award.
From Grants.gov: posted grants listing county governments as eligible, soonest deadline first; research-only and overseas programs left out; list updated 2026-10-13, refreshed weekly. 62 are open in all. Cities, towns, school districts and nonprofits have their own lists there.
Registration deadlines, early voting and polling places for South Carolina are on the federal site vote.gov, which links to the state's official election office.
The budget, property tax rates, audits, local officials and offices for Berkeley County come from the county's own records, which we haven't gathered — not gathered, never hidden. See what a full county site looks like, or ask to have Berkeley County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of South Carolina: the state government and every county in South Carolina.
Nearby counties: Dorchester County (27 mi) · Charleston County (28 mi) · Williamsburg County (32 mi) · Clarendon County (35 mi) · Georgetown County (41 mi) · Colleton County (48 mi).