Property Tax in Florence County, South Carolina

What the Florence County numbers mean

A median is the middle household: half of owner-occupied households in Florence County pay more than $724, and half pay less. Your own bill is set by your home's assessed value, the exemptions you qualify for, and the local taxing districts your property sits in — so individual bills vary widely around the median.

Dividing the median tax by the median home value gives a derived effective rate of 0.44% for Florence County. It is an estimate built from two survey medians, not the county's official rate, but it is a fair way to compare the local tax burden with other counties where home values are very different.

The key figures for Florence County

For context, the South Carolina medians are $1,199 of tax on $236,700 of value, and the US medians are $2,969 on $303,400. *Derived figures are estimates from Census medians, not official rates.

Florence County at a glance

• Median tax rank in South Carolina: #29 of 46 counties
• Median home value rank in South Carolina: #21 of 46
• Population rank in South Carolina: #13 of 46 (136,921 residents)
• Population density rank: #14 of 46 (171 people per square mile)
• Land area rank in South Carolina: #10 of 46 (800 sq mi, 2.7% of the combined county land area)
• Median tax as a monthly figure: $60; per $1,000 of home value: $0.44

How Florence County compares

The median tax bill in Florence County is about 40% lower than the state median ($1,199 for South Carolina) and about 76% lower than the US median ($2,969 nationally). By median taxes paid, the county ranks #29 out of 46 South Carolina counties with published Census data — 28 counties in the state have a higher median bill.

Comparisons cut both ways: a county can have a modest rate but high bills because homes are expensive, or a high rate but modest bills because homes are cheaper. Florence County's derived rate of 0.44% sits below the derived US figure of 0.98%.

Some extra context for Florence County: the median bill works out to about $60 a month, and the derived rate equals roughly $437 of tax per $100,000 of home value. The county is home to 136,921 people — the #13 most populous county in South Carolina, spread over 800 square miles, a density of about 171 people per square mile. Its median home value, $165,500, ranks #21 among the state's 46 counties with data.

Zooming out: of 3133 counties nationwide with published Census figures, only 2755 record a higher median tax bill than Florence County — it sits in the top 88% nationally. The county holds roughly 2.6% of South Carolina's people. Its homes are worth less than the state norm (median $165,500 versus $236,700), and a decade at the derived rate of 0.44% adds up to about 4.37% of the median home's value in tax. The cheapest county in the state, Marion County, medians $397 — $327 less than Florence County per year.

Counties nearest Florence County in the South Carolina ranking

Florence County and its population peers

Counties of a similar size can tax very differently. The table below shows the counties closest to Florence County in population across the United States, with their median bills and home values. Within the group of 9, Florence County ($724) ranks the lowest by median tax paid.

The closest population match is Cache County, Utah (137,031 residents), where the median real estate tax paid is $1,929 on a median home value of $392,800 — $1,205 less than Florence County pays.

Florence County's nearest population neighbours within South Carolina are Aiken County (171,949 residents, median tax $862 on a median value of $199,500); Dorchester County (164,322 residents, median tax $1,710 on a median value of $294,400); Pickens County (132,604 residents, median tax $821 on a median value of $216,000); Sumter County (104,853 residents, median tax $860 on a median value of $159,500). Comparing them is a reminder that even inside one state's rules, the bill follows local home values and local district rates more than anything decided at the state level.

How the tax is worked out

Think of the final bill as three ingredients: the assessed value of the property, the exemptions subtracted from it, and the combined rate of every district the property sits in. Florence County's medians imply a derived rate of 0.44%; applied illustratively, a $400,000 home would owe about $1,748 a year, or around $146 a month spread evenly. Individual properties depart from the illustration in both directions.

Illustrative bills in Florence County at the derived rate

The derived rate of 0.44% is only an estimate built from medians, but applying it to different home values gives a sense of scale for Florence County — and a quick way to compare with the state derived rate of 0.51% and the US figure of 0.98%:

Illustration only: real bills are computed from the assessed value, exemptions, and the combined rates of the property's actual taxing districts.

Checking your assessment in Florence County

If your bill looks wrong, work through these steps:

1. Get your property record card from the assessor and check the basics — living area, lot size, bedrooms, condition, and any exemptions you should have.
2. Compare your assessed value with recent sale prices of similar homes in Florence County.
3. Talk to the assessor's office informally first; clear errors are often fixed without a hearing.
4. If needed, file a formal appeal with the local review board before the deadline on your assessment notice, with your evidence attached.
5. Keep paying the bill as issued while the appeal runs, unless your notice says otherwise — unpaid taxes accrue penalties regardless of an appeal.

More South Carolina counties

• Pickens County, SC — $821
• Dorchester County, SC — $1,710
• Sumter County, SC — $860
• Aiken County, SC — $862
• Lancaster County, SC — $1,487
• Orangeburg County, SC — $724

Frequently asked questions