62,425 people (2024 Census estimate, −0.7% since 2020)
561 square miles of land · 111 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.
4 active community water systems list Darlington County in the area they serve, reporting 69,175 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| DARLINGTON COUNTY W&SA (SC1620001) groundwater · local government · SC1620001 | 52,288 served |
| HARTSVILLE CITY OF (SC1610003) groundwater · local government · SC1610003 | 8,711 served |
| DARLINGTON CITY OF (SC1610001) groundwater · local government · SC1610001 | 7,142 served |
| LAMAR TOWN OF (SC1610004) buys groundwater · local government · SC1610004 | 1,034 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 170 people were held in Darlington County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2021), or 435 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2016 it was about 177.
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 Darlington County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $169.5 million — $157.5 million to run schools, about $17,420 per student, plus $4.5 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $72.9 million local (mostly property tax), $76.7 million state, $36.5 million federal. Long-term debt: $53.2 million.
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 Low compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Darlington County about $22.4 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively High; social vulnerability: Very High.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
173 bridges in Darlington County: 55 in good condition, 107 fair, and 11 poor (6.4%). “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-16-18 over BLACK CREEK · built 1969 | 3,700 vehicles a day |
| US 15 over LITTLE SEED TICK CREEK · built 1931 | 3,000 vehicles a day |
| US 15 over BIG SEED TICK CREEK · built 1931 | 3,000 vehicles a day |
| S-16-1040 over BLACK CREEK · built 1980 | 2,500 vehicles a day |
| S-16-185 over SWIFT CREEK · built 1978 | 1,000 vehicles a day |
| S-16-13 over SWIFT CREEK · built 1979 | 900 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $30.2 million of work in Darlington County in fiscal 2025, about $481 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 Darlington 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 Darlington County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of South Carolina: the state government and every county in South Carolina.
Nearby counties: Lee County (20 mi) · Chesterfield County (24 mi) · Marlboro County (25 mi) · Florence County (25 mi) · Dillon County (34 mi) · Kershaw County (36 mi).