City safety & data profile

AikenSC

Aiken, SC is a 31K-resident city in Aiken County with a median household income of $76,746.

Aiken County, South Carolina. Federal health, economic, and safety indicators for Aiken, drawn from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, CDC PLACES, and CMS Hospital Compare. Aiken has a population larger than 64% of the 4,640 U.S. cities Areazine tracks, a median home value of $286,800, and 1 hospital serving the surrounding area.

Data updated 2026-08-21

31K
Population (place)
Top 36%
By size
$76,746
Median income (place)
$286,800
Median home (place)
17%
Poverty rate (place)
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The read on Aiken

Aiken posts a median household income higher than 45% of U.S. cities Areazine tracks, where 1 hospital serves the Aiken area.

Bottom 46%
by median income, US cities
1
hospital in & near Aiken

Where Aiken income ranks nationally

Median household income vs. every place Areazine profiles (place-level ACS)

$76,746 Bottom 45% higher than 45% of 3,889 places Areazine profiles

Aiken $0 $260,000 every profiled place, bucketed by value

Each bar is a $20K-wide band; taller bars hold more places Areazine profiles. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (place-level) · 2024 ACS 5-year

Largest cities in SC

Population among 50 SC places with 10,000+ residents and ACS income on Areazine. Tooltip shows the income rank in the same pool.

residents

What this shows Columbia is the largest SC city on this list; Five Forks leads median income.

Source U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (place-level) As of 2024 ACS 5-year

Highest median incomes in SC

Median household income among the same 50-city pool. Tooltip shows the population rank.

median

What this shows Five Forks posts the highest place-level median income in SC; Columbia is largest by headcount.

Source U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (place-level) As of 2024 ACS 5-year

The quick read

Reading Aiken, SC beyond the headline numbers

Aiken sits inside Aiken County, South Carolina, at roughly 33.56°N, -81.72°W. Population 30,604, $76,746 median household income. Median home value $286,800, median rent $1,180. Poverty rate 17%, read against that income figure since two cities on the same median can differ underneath it.

1 hospital in/around Aiken, 2/5 avg rating, 1 with an ER.

17% of Aiken, SC residents live below the poverty line, placing it in the hardest-hit quarter of reporting cities. Read every median on this page against that: half the households are above it, and a large minority are far below.

The median home in Aiken costs roughly 3.7 times median household income, below the midpoint for reporting cities, so ownership remains reachable on a typical local wage.

Remote work covers 12.2% of Aiken workers, under the midpoint for reporting cities.

Among the CDC measures on this page, stroke departs furthest from its peer median: 4.4% in Aiken, the highest-prevalence quarter of the 3,759 cities reporting that measure.

At 46.6 years, Aiken's median age is in the oldest quarter of reporting cities.

Sources: U.S. Census ACS, CDC PLACES, CMS Hospital Compare, plus live alerts for Aiken from FEMA, NOAA, FDA, and CPSC. Economic comparison bars use the unweighted average across tracked Census places with a reported value, not a household-weighted national median.

Population (place)
30,604
Aiken · Census Place
Median Income (place)
$76,746
-14% vs avg
Median Home Value (place)
$286,800
-31% vs avg
Median Age (place)
46.6
years · ACS place

10-Year Trends 2013–2024

County-level trend (Aiken County): Aiken's own historical series isn't separately published by the Census Bureau, so these year-over-year figures track the surrounding county, not the city alone.

20132024
Population
174K+8%
Median Income
$70,609+59%
Median Home Value
$218,000+75%
Poverty Rate
14.3%-24%
Unemployment
6%-45%

Economics

Economics indicators for Aiken, SC
IndicatorValue
Median Rent
$1,180/mo
Poverty Rate
17% +37% vs avg
Unemployment 5.4%
Bachelor's Degree+ 47.7%
Work From Home 12.2%
Public Transit 0.7%

Population

White 59.9%
African American 30.5%
Asian 1.8%
Two or More Ethnicities 3.1%

Health Profile 15 measures

Health Indicators

High Blood Pressure
40.6%
Short Sleep Duration
34.6%
Obesity
32.4%
Physical Inactivity
25.4%
Diabetes
14.3%
Frequent Mental Distress
14.3%
Binge Drinking
13.9%
Frequent Physical Distress
13.5%
Current Smoking
11.4%
Lack of Health Insurance
10.5%

Preventive Care

Dental Visit 65.6%
Annual Checkup 83.9%

Other Measures

Current Asthma
9.7%
Coronary Heart Disease
7.7%
Stroke
4.4%

Hospitals 1 total

Rating Distribution
★★★★★
0
★★★★
0
★★★
0
★★
1
★
0
Average Rating
2/5
Total Hospitals
1
With ER
1
AIKEN REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER
AIKEN · Acute Care Hospitals · ER
★★☆☆☆

Alerts & News - Aiken Area

No area-tagged alerts are on record for Aiken right now. New federal and counterpart-agency notices still land in the site feed as agencies publish them.

Frequently Asked Questions 6

What is the population of Aiken, SC? ▼
Aiken, SC has a population of 30,604 people, located in Aiken County, South Carolina.
What is the median household income in Aiken? ▼
The median household income in Aiken, SC is $76,746 per year, per the U.S. Census ACS. The poverty rate is 17%.
What is the median home value in Aiken? ▼
The median home value in Aiken, SC is $286,800. Median rent is $1,180/month.
What are the top health concerns in Aiken? ▼
The top health indicators in Aiken include High Blood Pressure (40.6%), Short Sleep Duration (34.6%), Obesity (32.4%). Data from CDC PLACES.
How many hospitals are in Aiken? ▼
Aiken has 1 hospital with an average rating of 2/5 stars. 1 have emergency departments.
What is the median age in Aiken? ▼
The median age in Aiken, SC is 46.6 years. 47.7% of residents have a bachelor's degree or higher.

Safety Context

Aiken, SC is located in Aiken County, South Carolina. With a population of 31K and a $76,746 median household income, the community faces health challenges including high blood pressure and short sleep duration. Residents have access to 1 hospital with an average rating of 2/5 stars. Safety alerts for the Aiken area are monitored from federal and state agencies including FEMA, NOAA, FDA, and CPSC.

Safety Guides

How Product Recalls Work

CPSC, FDA & NHTSA recall process explained

Understanding Weather Alerts

Watch vs warning vs advisory explained

Earthquake Magnitude Explained

What the numbers mean & when to act
All safety guides →

Primary source data

EPA Outdoor Air Quality Data

Federal monitoring network, every measurement we report

AirNow - South Carolina

Real-time AQI for every monitored South Carolina location

National Weather Service

NOAA active watches, warnings, advisories

CDC Air Quality & Health

Health-impact reference for every AQI category

EPA NAAQS standards

National Ambient Air Quality Standards, the regulatory thresholds

Nationwide cities with similar poverty or income 8

Two ACS-derived peer sets for Aiken, both outside South Carolina so the neighborhoods are not the geographic nearby list below.

Similar poverty rate

Nearest place-level ACS poverty rates outside SC (17% here).

Greensboro, NC 17% Hialeah, FL 17% Santa Cruz, CA 17% Elizabethtown, KY 17%

Similar median income

Nearest place-level ACS median household incomes outside SC ($76,746 here).

Venice, FL $76,755 Morris, IL $76,711 Bellmawr, NJ $76,654 Griffith, IN $76,636

Nearby Cities 8

North Augusta, SC 23K Augusta, GA 43K Martinez, GA 36K Evans, GA 29K Grovetown, GA 13K Lexington, SC 20K Oak Grove, SC 10K Newberry, SC 10K
All cities in South Carolina → Compare Aiken vs North Augusta → All comparisons → Browse all cities

Using Aiken's profile

Use this as a starting research checklist, not a verdict on whether to live here.

  • Check live recalls, weather and hazard alerts scoped to the Aiken area before relying on national headlines. Check your area
  • Read the poverty rate alongside the income figure, two places with the same median can have very different realities.
  • Compare Aiken against South Carolina peers on any ranking lens. Explore South Carolina

Population and economics (income, home value, poverty, education) are place-level U.S. Census ACS; health is CDC PLACES; hospital counts reflect facilities in and around the city. County-level trends are labeled when shown.

Data Sources

All data on this page comes from official U.S. government sources. Population and economic data from the Census Bureau American Community Survey (2024 5-year estimates, place geography). Health data from the CDC PLACES program (2023). Hospital ratings from CMS Hospital Compare (2024). Climate data from NOAA. Education data from NCES. Cost of living from Bureau of Economic Analysis. Crime statistics, where referenced on Areazine, originate from the FBI Crime Data Explorer. Housing market figures referenced on Areazine come from HUD Fair Market Rents. Census economics and population are at place geography; some health and hospital indicators are reported at the county level (Aiken County) where that is the smallest published unit.

Every figure on Areazine is published directly from official U.S. government sources, no number is typed in by an editor. City demographic and health figures are compiled directly from U.S. Census (place-level ACS), CDC, and CMS releases, updated quarterly within 30 days of upstream release. County-level trends are labeled when shown. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026.