71,698 people (2024 Census estimate, +9.3% since 2020)
727 square miles of land · 99 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.
5 active community water systems list Kershaw County in the area they serve, reporting 73,985 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| LUGOFF ELGIN WATER AUTH (SC2820001) surface water · local government · SC2820001 | 25,783 served |
| CASSATT WTR - KERSHAW/LEE CO RWA groundwater · local government · SC2820005 | 25,485 served |
| CAMDEN CITY OF (SC2810001) surface water · local government · SC2810001 | 19,076 served |
| BETHUNE RURAL WATER (SC2820006) groundwater · local government · SC2820006 | 3,100 served |
| BETHUNE TOWN OF (SC2810002) groundwater · local government · SC2810002 | 541 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 108 people were held in Kershaw County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2021), or 262 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2016 it was about 104.
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 Kershaw County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $156.8 million — $130.9 million to run schools, about $11,753 per student, plus $17.2 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $68.4 million local (mostly property tax), $90.9 million state, $19.9 million federal. Long-term debt: $212.5 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 Kershaw County about $23.5 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively Low; social vulnerability: Relatively Moderate.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
173 bridges in Kershaw County: 66 in good condition, 100 fair, and 7 poor (4.0%). “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.
| I-20 WB over WATEREE RIVER · built 1970 | 22,100 vehicles a day |
| SC 341 over LITTLE LYNCHES RIVER (2) · built 1940 | 2,100 vehicles a day |
| S-28-58 over GUM SWAMP CREEK · built 1977 | 1,750 vehicles a day |
| S-28-15 over LYNCHES RIVER · built 1959 | 1,650 vehicles a day |
| S-28-58 over LITTLE FLAT ROCK CREEK · built 1979 | 1,400 vehicles a day |
| S-28-775 over TWENTY FIVE MILE CREEK · built 1975 | 250 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $8.1 million of work in Kershaw County in fiscal 2025, about $124 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 Kershaw 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 Kershaw County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of South Carolina: the state government and every county in South Carolina.
Nearby counties: Lee County (23 mi) · Lancaster County (25 mi) · Richland County (28 mi) · Fairfield County (31 mi) · Sumter County (31 mi) · Chesterfield County (32 mi).