Carolina Forest, SC population, income and ZIP codes

Carolina Forest CDP is a small city in South Carolina, with 26,373 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #19 of 475 ranked by population — larger than 96% of them. The median age here is 37.6 years against 39.1 nationally, a slightly younger profile than the country as a whole. Places under 65,000 residents only appear in the five-year release, never the one-year file, so these values pool sixty months of responses and lag the current year by design.

Households in Carolina Forest CDP earn a median of $70,647 a year, 10% below the national figure of $78,538 and 33% above the $53,071 median for the 263 South Carolina cities we cover. Household income here is measured before tax and pooled across everyone at the address, which is why it reads higher than typical individual earnings in the same area. Poverty reaches 14% of residents here, above the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in Carolina Forest CDP is valued at $298,700, 1.5% below the national figure and 69% above the $177,100 peer median, while median gross rent runs $1,567 a month, 11.5% above the national figure, or roughly $18,804 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 26.6% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is within the standard affordability guideline. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 4.2×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so buying is harder here than in the average US market. 69.4% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, so the market leans toward owners. Gross rent folds in the utilities a tenant pays separately, so it is closer to the real monthly outlay than a headline rent figure.

Every value on this page is published directly by the Census for this area — nothing is modelled or interpolated. Small-area estimates still carry wider margins of error than state or national figures, so check the linked ACS tables before relying on them for lending, appraisal or legal work.