Is Elgin a good place to live?
Elgin’s best subject grades are a B+ for cost of living and a B for incomes; its weakest is a D− for safety. Elgin’s property crime rate is 51.1 per 1,000 residents, where South Carolina’s towns sit at 21.4 and U.S. towns at 9.9. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 90% of U.S. towns. Among 170 South Carolina towns, just 4 have a higher share of households owning their home than Elgin. Only 1 of South Carolina’s 263 towns score lower on history. Elgin's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) trails 90% of U.S. towns. Elgin has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Elgin has grown 28% since 2010
1,311 counted in 2010 and 1,634 in 2020; an estimated 1,675 in 2025.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts · Census Bureau estimate, July 1, 2025
How Elgin grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within South Carolina), ordered by how far Elgin is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Elgin: who provides what
Who provides power, water and the rest in Elgin, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Sep 12, 2025.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Elgin.
Elgin sees more crime per resident than 96% of U.S. towns
Elgin’s violent crime rate is 4.8 per 1,000 residents, above both South Carolina’s towns (4.1) and U.S. towns (1.6).
Violent crime per 1,000 residents
Property crime per 1,000 residents
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Elgin has 0.7 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Most working residents leave Elgin for work: only 2% work in town. 4.2% of residents live below the poverty line in Elgin. Since 2013, Elgin has added 160 jobs, to 573 in 2023.
| Elgin | South Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 4.2% | 17% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $92,000 | $57,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 27 minutes | 24 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 2.2% | 6.1% | 8% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Elgin has mild winters and hot summers
Elgin has mild winters and warm summers. Elgin’s July high is 92°F.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
More children than South Carolina overall
Children under 18 are 29% of residents (22% statewide); people 65 and older are 12% of residents (19% statewide). The median age in Elgin is 35.6 years. Elgin has grown 2.6% since 2020, to 1,675 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate.
| Elgin | South Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 18 | 29% | 22% | 22% |
| Aged 65 or older | 11% | 17% | 18% |
| Median age | 35.6 years | 38.9 years | 40.5 years |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 27% | 23% | 29% |
Ages · share of residents
Education · adults 25 and older
Women and men · all residents
Somewhere between 30% and 57% women
The Census survey reached too few of Elgin’s residents to say more: its margin here is ±13.7 points. Across South Carolina, 51.3% of residents are women.
| Elgin | SC | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 12% | 11.4% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 17.3% | 10.1% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 5.4% | 9.1% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 14.2% | 12.8% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 14.7% | 12.5% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 13.5% | 12% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 11.5% | 13.2% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 7.4% | 11.4% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 4.1% | 7.4% | 7% |
| No diploma | 6.8% | 9.9% | 10.4% |
| High school | 30.2% | 28.2% | 26% |
| Some college | 21.8% | 19.8% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 14.2% | 10% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 15.5% | 19.8% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 11.6% | 12.3% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 1,700, single groups can be off by several points
Residents of Elgin are healthier than 62% of U.S. towns
Elgin beats the South Carolina average on 5 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 0. 17% of Elgin adults binge drink.
| Elgin | South Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 15% | 16% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 23% | 19% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 15% | 12% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 15% | 14% |
| What stands out | Elgin | SC |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 10.2% | 13.9% |
| Fewer adults who have had a stroke | 3.3% | 3.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Inland flooding leads a moderate hazard risk in Elgin
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 59% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
A typical Elgin home is worth about $299K
The typical Elgin home is worth about $299,000, up 2.1% in a year, close to the South Carolina typical home.
Typical home value
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Potter Community Park | 0.2 mi | 4 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Williams-Brice Stadium and 7 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Elgin. Close and well known come first.
19 mi Stadium & arenaWilliams-Brice Stadium
23 mi National ParkCongaree National Park288K visitors a year12 mi LakeAlcohol and Drug Abuse Lake
32 mi LakeLake Murray
19 mi Stadium & arenaColonial Life Arena
20 mi Zoo & aquariumRiverbanks ZooPhoto credits
Williams-Brice Stadium: SRA MARVIN PRESTON, Public domain · Congaree National Park: Unknown, Public domain · Lake Murray: Greygh0st at English Wikipedia, Public domain · Colonial Life Arena: Dfscgt21, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Riverbanks Zoo: Carlo Giovannetti (Thief12), CC BY-SA 3.0
Everything we know about Elgin
Colleges nearby
1 within 15 miles of the center of Elgin
About 5 of every 100 Elgin residents are enrolled in college, about the same as South Carolina.
98% of working residents leave Elgin for work
Where Elgin’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
About Elgin
Town in South Carolina, United States
Elgin is an incorporated town in Kershaw County, South Carolina, United States. Some portions of the town are in adjacent Richland County, South Carolina. It is located approximately 20 miles (32 km) northeast of the center of Columbia, the state's capital, and is the center of one of the ten townships that make up Kershaw County. As of the 2010 census, the town's population was 1,311, and in 2018 the estimated population was 1,579. It is part of the Columbia, South Carolina Metropolitan Statistical Area.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 1.0 sq mi
- ZIP code
- 29045
Questions about Elgin
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Elgin, SC expensive?
Not for the area. That is 4.4 years of the area's median household income ($68,359 across the Columbia, SC metro area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B+.