Property Tax in Orangeburg County, South Carolina

What the Orangeburg County numbers mean

Read the two medians together: $724 is the middle tax bill among owner-occupied households in Orangeburg County, and $109,700 is the middle home value. Neither figure describes a specific property — together they describe the typical homeowner's situation in the county.

The derived effective rate for Orangeburg County is 0.66% (median tax ÷ median value). Treat it as an estimate for comparison only: it comes from survey medians of different households, not from the county's rate schedule.

The key figures for Orangeburg 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.

Orangeburg County at a glance

• Median tax rank in South Carolina: #29 of 46 counties
• Median home value rank in South Carolina: #35 of 46
• Population rank in South Carolina: #17 of 46 (83,531 residents)
• Population density rank: #24 of 46 (75 people per square mile)
• Land area rank in South Carolina: #2 of 46 (1,106 sq mi, 3.7% of the combined county land area)
• Median tax as a monthly figure: $60; per $1,000 of home value: $0.66

How Orangeburg County compares

The median tax bill in Orangeburg 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. Orangeburg County's derived rate of 0.66% sits below the derived US figure of 0.98%.

Some extra context for Orangeburg County: the median bill works out to about $60 a month, and the derived rate equals roughly $660 of tax per $100,000 of home value. The county is home to 83,531 people — the #17 most populous county in South Carolina, spread over 1,106 square miles, a density of about 75 people per square mile. Its median home value, $109,700, ranks #35 among the state's 46 counties with data.

Zooming out: of 3133 counties nationwide with published Census figures, only 2756 record a higher median tax bill than Orangeburg County — it sits in the top 88% nationally. The county holds roughly 1.6% of South Carolina's people. Its homes are worth less than the state norm (median $109,700 versus $236,700), and a decade at the derived rate of 0.66% adds up to about 6.60% of the median home's value in tax. The cheapest county in the state, Marion County, medians $397 — $327 less than Orangeburg County per year.

Counties nearest Orangeburg County in the South Carolina ranking

Orangeburg County and its population peers

For a like-for-like sense of scale, compare Orangeburg County with its national population peers: the counties nearest to its 83,531 residents, listed in the table below with their own Census medians. Of the 9 counties in that group, Orangeburg County's median bill of $724 is the lowest.

The closest population match is Howard County, Indiana (83,610 residents), where the median real estate tax paid is $1,110 on a median home value of $151,500 — $386 less than Orangeburg County pays.

Orangeburg County's nearest population neighbours within South Carolina are Sumter County (104,853 residents, median tax $860 on a median value of $159,500); Lancaster County (100,905 residents, median tax $1,487 on a median value of $298,100); Oconee County (79,566 residents, median tax $856 on a median value of $217,200); Greenwood County (69,329 residents, median tax $973 on a median value of $166,400). 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. Orangeburg County's medians imply a derived rate of 0.66%; applied illustratively, a $400,000 home would owe about $2,640 a year, or around $220 a month spread evenly. Individual properties depart from the illustration in both directions.

Illustrative bills in Orangeburg County at the derived rate

The derived rate of 0.66% is only an estimate built from medians, but applying it to different home values gives a sense of scale for Orangeburg 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 Orangeburg 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 Orangeburg 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

• Oconee County, SC — $856
• Greenwood County, SC — $973
• Laurens County, SC — $673
• Kershaw County, SC — $937
• Lancaster County, SC — $1,487
• Georgetown County, SC — $1,117

Frequently asked questions