Counties / South Carolina / Sumter County

Sumter County, SC

FIPS 45085 · population 104,725 · part of Sumter, SC

$216k
Zillow home value · 2026-06
The numbers

What this county costs and earns

Everything here joins on the county FIPS code, so each figure comes from the agency that publishes it with no name matching in between.

Zillow home value
$216k
▲ 1.4% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
Median asking rent
$1,516
▲ 3.9% year over year
Zillow ZORI · direct
Gross yield
8.4%
annual rent ÷ price, before costs
derived: rent × 12 ÷ price ✓
HUD 2-bed standard
$1,276
market rent is 1.19x the standard
HUD Fair Market Rent · direct
Independent price check

Do two methods point the same way?

Zillow estimates a current home value. FHFA tracks repeat mortgage transactions. Their growth rates should be read side by side, not averaged.

Both annual signals move in the same direction
FHFA five-year cumulative+51.6%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+1.4%FHFA HPI2025+4.5%
Annual changes use different methods and may use different periods. The comparison checks direction and magnitude; it does not create a blended estimate. Zillow county ZHVI pulled 2026-07-26; FHFA annual county HPI pulled 2026-07-28.
Owner-reported value$165k
Surveyed gross rent$1,057
Rent burden 30%+51.8%
Median year built1987
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
13.7%vacant
47,582estimated housing units
Occupied tenure31.9% renter
owner 68.1%renter 31.9%
Structure mix69.4% single-family
Single-family 69.4%20+ units 2.1%Mobile home 19.0%Other 9.5%
ACS estimates describe the standing housing stock and occupied tenure. They do not measure current listings, transaction prices or asking rents.

Survey source: Census ACS 5-year — county housing value, tenure and stock · ACS 2024 5-year · pulled 2026-07-30. These values describe different housing universes and are not combined into gross yield.

Annual average covered jobs35,254▲ 0.2% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments2,307annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$1,051▲ 2.6% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorEducation and health services20.5% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS+0.2%WEEKLY WAGE+2.6%Education and health services20.5%
Annual QCEW counts cover jobs located at reporting establishments. The industry share uses disclosed private covered employment; it is not a resident-employment measure or a forecast.

Workplace source: BLS QCEW — county employment and wages · annual county employment and wages 2025 vs 2024 · pulled 2026-07-31. QCEW counts covered jobs located in the county, not employed residents or the metro score’s CES/LAUS series.

County brief

What the local evidence says

01Decision frame

Sumter County presents a yield-versus-resilience tension: the reported 8.41% gross yield is attractive only before costs, while MLS concessions and inland-flood exposure can change property economics. Cash-flow underwriters should investigate property-specific insurance, tax, condition and maintenance; buyers depending on resale momentum or broad demand should be cautious. The record is a county screen, not a property-level conclusion.

02Housing economics

In Zillow’s 2026-06 county observation, median home value was $216,442 and median asking rent was $1,516 per month; value rose 1.38% while asking rent rose 3.89%. The published yield uses market rent, whereas the $1,276 HUD two-bedroom FMR is a payment standard—not an asking-rent estimate—and cannot replace it. The 0.53% effective property-tax rate is a carrying-cost input. FHFA’s annual 2025 repeat-transaction HPI gained 4.5%; it corroborates a positive direction but is neither a dollar value nor the same vintage or method as Zillow.

03Demand & competition

Realtor.com’s 2026-06 MLS evidence shows 342 active listings, a 55-day median marketing time, 15.58% of listings reduced, and a 54.09% pending-to-active ratio. These are asking-price supply, marketing-time, concession and pipeline measures; together they show a mixed visible listing market, not closed-sale pricing or proof of buyer demand. Net tax-return migration was +127 households, although arriving movers had lower average income than departures. Non-occupant mortgages were 4.89% of the 1,309 purchase mortgages. QCEW’s 2025 annual covered-workplace series identifies Education and health services as the largest disclosed private supersector, not the whole economy or resident employment.

04Risk & next checks

Modeled climate loss equals 0.13% of building value per year and aligns with inland flood as the named dominant hazard, but it does not establish a subject property’s flood zone or premium. Missing property-level insurance quotes, flood history, condition, utilities, vacancy, lease terms and operating expenses prevent a net-yield conclusion. Missing closed-sale comparables and neighborhood segmentation also prevent a basis or exit-price conclusion; county migration and workplace data cannot fill those gaps.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Sumter County

Census-recognized incorporated places and CDPs that intersect this county. The list does not pretend to include every neighborhood or informal community.

Population scale

Largest Census places

ACS 2024 5-year
Sumter city43.1KLakewood CDP3.5KDalzell CDP2.9KCherryvale CDP2.6KPrivateer CDP2.5KStateburg CDP2KWedgefield CDP2KSouth Sumter CDP1.6K
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

17 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Sumter cityIncorporated place
    43,053
  2. 02
    Lakewood CDPCensus-designated place
    3,544
  3. 03
    Dalzell CDPCensus-designated place
    2,946
  4. 04
    Cherryvale CDPCensus-designated place
    2,611
  5. 05
    Privateer CDPCensus-designated place
    2,472
  6. 06
    Stateburg CDPCensus-designated place
    2,027
  7. 07
    Wedgefield CDPCensus-designated place
    1,968
  8. 08
    South Sumter CDPCensus-designated place
    1,626
  9. 09
    Cane Savannah CDPCensus-designated place
    1,551
  10. 10
    Oakland CDPCensus-designated place
    1,060
  11. 11
    East Sumter CDPCensus-designated place
    943
  12. 12
    Mayesville townIncorporated place
    832
Show 5 more places
  1. 13
    Pinewood townIncorporated place
    668
  2. 14
    Mulberry CDPCensus-designated place
    474
  3. 15
    Oswego CDPCensus-designated place
    172
  4. 16
    Rembert CDPCensus-designated place
    144
  5. 17
    Shiloh CDPCensus-designated place
    124

Population is the total place-wide ACS estimate, not an allocated county share. A place crossing a county line is labelled explicitly. Source: Census ACS 5-year — cities and communities · ACS 2024 5-year · pulled 2026-07-30.

Risk, demand and competition

The three things a price does not tell you

01
Risk & carrying costFEMA NRI + Census ACS
Dominant hazardinland flooding

0.132% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax0.53%

$881 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration+127

2,940 in · 2,813 out

Arriving vs leaving income−$1,578

$50,083 arriving · $51,661 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors4.9%

64 of 1,309 mortgages

investorother financed
Current listing pressure

What sellers and visible supply are doing

Realtor.com® Economic Research · county inventory 2026-06 · pulled 2026-07-28
Active listings342▲ 3.6% year over year
Median days on market55▼ 4.3% year over year
Listings price-reduced15.6%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▲ 4.3% year over year

Listing price is an asking price, not a closed sale. Quality-flagged county rows are withheld instead of displayed.

Bear case

What can break the county thesis

  1. Property-level flood insurance, condition, or operating costs may erase the pre-cost gross-yield case.
  2. County MLS indicators may not match the subject neighborhood, property type, or closed-sale market.
  3. Migration and covered-workplace data may not translate into durable tenant income or occupancy.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Can gross yield be computed from market rent rather than HUD FMR?

Yes. The record publishes median asking rent and gross yield; HUD FMR remains a payment standard.

Are Zillow and FHFA appreciation readings directly comparable?

No. Zillow’s county value change and FHFA’s repeat-transaction index use different methods and separately labeled periods.

What is known about investor buyer participation?

Non-occupant purchase mortgages are a minority of recorded purchase mortgages; cash-buyer and property-type detail are not published.