174,663 people (2024 Census estimate, +7.8% since 2020)
568 square miles of land · 307 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.
20 active community water systems list Dorchester County in the area they serve, reporting 162,361 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| SUMMERVILLE CPW (SC1810003) buys surface water · local government · SC1810003 | 81,750 served |
| DCWA KNIGHTSVILLE (SC1820001) buys surface water · local government · SC1820001 | 40,141 served |
| DCWS ASHLEY PHOSPHATE (SC1820008) buys surface water · local government · SC1820008 | 26,536 served |
| ST GEORGE TOWN OF (SC1810001) groundwater · local government · SC1810001 | 2,300 served |
| DCWS/CLAY FIELD DRIVE (SC1850014) buys surface water · private · SC1850014 | 1,648 served |
| LIEBER CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTE (1870050) groundwater · private · SC1870050 | 1,646 served |
| DCWS SOUTHERN PALMS (SC1850011) buys surface water · local government · SC1850011 | 1,494 served |
| RIDGEVILLE INDUSTRIAL CAMPUS (SC1830031) groundwater · private · SC1830031 | 999 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 253 people were held in Dorchester County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2023), or 229 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2018 it was about 231.
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.
2 school districts have their office in Dorchester County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $320.2 million — $293 million to run schools, about $11,212 per student, plus $13.4 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $131.7 million local (mostly property tax), $197.1 million state, $40.7 million federal. Long-term debt: $288.7 million.
Spent $65.7 million — $39.4 million to run schools, about $19,434 per student, plus $25.2 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $21.7 million local (mostly property tax), $19.5 million state, $5.7 million federal. Long-term debt: $15.4 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 Moderate compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Dorchester County about $175.8 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively Moderate; social vulnerability: Very Low.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
199 bridges in Dorchester County: 57 in good condition, 138 fair, and 4 poor (2.0%). “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.
| US 17 ALT over ASHLEY RIVER · built 1971 | 19,800 vehicles a day |
| US 78 over FOUR HOLE SWAMP · built 1948 | 9,900 vehicles a day |
| US 15 over EDISTO RIVER · built 1928 | 2,700 vehicles a day |
| S-18-19/WIRE RD over INDIAN FIELDS SWAMP · built 1960 | 1,000 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $8.6 million of work in Dorchester County in fiscal 2025, about $53 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 Dorchester 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 Dorchester County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of South Carolina: the state government and every county in South Carolina.
Nearby counties: Colleton County (22 mi) · Berkeley County (27 mi) · Charleston County (33 mi) · Orangeburg County (34 mi) · Bamberg County (38 mi) · Clarendon County (42 mi).