The largest county in South Carolina

There are two right answers. By land area it is Horry County; by population it is Greenville County. Which one you want depends on what you meant by largest.

Largest by land area

Horry County

1,133 sq mi

3.8% of South Carolina's land

Largest by population

Greenville County

583,125 people

10.5% of South Carolina's population

Sources: US Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program, Vintage 2025 Population Estimates, released 26 March 2026; US Census Bureau, Gazetteer Files, 2025 Gazetteer Files, released 10 September 2025. Retrieved 30 August 2026.

By land area

The ten largest counties of South Carolina by land area. Land area excludes inland and coastal water.
RankNameLand areaPopulation
1Horry County1,133 sq mi427,551
2Orangeburg County1,106 sq mi83,177
3Berkeley County1,104 sq mi274,666
4Aiken County1,071 sq mi181,515
5Colleton County1,057 sq mi39,382
6Williamsburg County934.2 sq mi29,662
7Charleston County918.1 sq mi436,200
8Georgetown County813.7 sq mi65,912
9Spartanburg County808.4 sq mi380,857
10Florence County800.5 sq mi138,504

By population

The ten most populous counties of South Carolina, from the Census Bureau's Vintage 2025 estimates.
RankNamePopulationDensity
1Greenville County583,125742 per sq mi
2Charleston County436,200475 per sq mi
3Richland County434,956574 per sq mi
4Horry County427,551377 per sq mi
5Spartanburg County380,857471 per sq mi
6Lexington County317,588455 per sq mi
7York County306,887451 per sq mi
8Berkeley County274,666249 per sq mi
9Anderson County219,930308 per sq mi
10Beaufort County204,433355 per sq mi

And the smallest

Smallest by land area

McCormick County

358.9 sq mi

Least populous

Allendale County

7,355 people

More on South Carolina

Rebuilt from source data 30 August 2026. How these figures are produced.