Richland County, South Carolina

Richland is a county in South Carolina, United States, centred on the state capital, Columbia. It had a population of 416,147 at the 2020 census and covers 772 square miles (2,000 km2), of which 15 square miles (39 km2) is water, centred near 34°00′N 80°53′W.

Columbia is the county seat and its postal code is 29201. Richland County contains 6 incorporated cities and towns plus a number of unincorporated communities, sits in the Eastern time zone, and carries FIPS code 45079. It is the second-most-populous county in South Carolina, after Greenville County, and anchors the Columbia metropolitan statistical area.

Towns & Villages in Richland County

Richland County has 6 incorporated municipalities — Columbia, Forest Acres, Blythewood and Irmo are cities and towns that share a border with a neighboring county, while Arcadia Lakes and Eastover lie entirely inside Richland. The rest of the county is unincorporated, served by census-designated places (CDP) and older rural communities (Unincorp.) that appear on maps and mail addresses but have no town government of their own.

Columbia’s city limits straddle the Richland/Lexington county line along the Congaree and Broad rivers — the downtown core and most of the population sit in Richland, but several western neighborhoods are in Lexington County. Blythewood and Irmo also each have a slice of their footprint over the Fairfield and Lexington lines respectively; the figures above are the towns’ total populations, not the Richland-only share.

ZIP Codes

• 29201 — Columbia (downtown; the wider city uses roughly two dozen ZIPs from 29201 to 29229)
• 29206 — Forest Acres / Arcadia Lakes
• 29223 — Dentsville / northeast Columbia
• 29063 — Irmo
• 29016 — Blythewood
• 29044 — Eastover
• 29061 — Hopkins
• 29052 — Gadsden
• 29002 — Ballentine

Smaller unincorporated communities such as Killian, Congaree, Cedar Creek, Horrel Hill, Pontiac, Wateree and Bookman use a neighboring town’s ZIP code rather than one of their own.

Geography

Richland County sits in the Midlands of South Carolina, straddling the fall line where the Piedmont meets the Atlantic Coastal Plain. The Broad and Saluda rivers join at Columbia to form the Congaree River, which runs southeast across the county and forms much of its border with Lexington County; Congaree National Park, a old-growth floodplain forest, lies in the county’s southern corner along the river. Lake Murray forms part of the county’s northwestern edge.

Richland County borders Fairfield County to the north, Kershaw County to the northeast, Sumter County to the east, Calhoun County to the south, and Lexington County to the west and southwest.

Demographics

Richland County had 416,147 residents at the 2020 census, with Columbia (136,632) and Irmo (12,180) as its two largest communities. The county’s median household income runs below the South Carolina median of $67,804, reflecting a mix of state-government and university employment alongside lower-income neighborhoods in and around Columbia. With 772 square miles of land, the county’s overall density is roughly 550 people per square mile, though that ranges from dense urban blocks near the University of South Carolina to sparsely populated farmland in the southeastern townships toward Congaree National Park.

Economy & Local Life

South Carolina’s state government is the county’s largest employer — Columbia is the seat of that government, and agencies headquartered downtown employ thousands of residents. The University of South Carolina, the state’s flagship public university, is Columbia’s other major anchor, along with Fort Jackson, the U.S. Army’s largest basic-training installation, which sits partly within Richland County on the city’s eastern edge. Prisma Health operates major hospital campuses in Columbia. Retail and dining cluster around the Vista and Five Points districts downtown and along the Village at Sandhill and Columbiana Centre malls farther out.

History

Richland County was created on March 12, 1785, one of the original South Carolina judicial districts formed after the American Revolution; its name describes the fertile, “rich land” along the Congaree River. Columbia was laid out the following year as a new, centrally located state capital, chosen specifically because it was not tied to either the coastal Lowcountry or the upland Piedmont. Union troops under General William T. Sherman burned much of Columbia in February 1865 during the Civil War, and the city and county rebuilt around the rail lines and textile mills that shaped the Midlands economy into the 20th century.

Getting There

Interstates 20, 26 and 77 all converge in Richland County at Columbia, along with U.S. Highways 1, 21, 76 and 378.

• Charlotte, North Carolina — 92 miles north
• Charleston — 115 miles southeast
• Augusta, Georgia — 72 miles southwest
• Sumter — 45 miles east

Columbia Metropolitan Airport (CAE), just across the county line in Lexington County, is the nearest commercial airport.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Richland County, South Carolina?
It sits in the Midlands of central South Carolina, at the point where the Broad and Saluda rivers meet to form the Congaree River.

What is the population of Richland County?
416,147 people, per the 2020 census — the second-highest of any South Carolina county.

How big is Richland County?
772 square miles (2,000 km2), including 15 square miles of water.

What is the county seat of Richland County?
Columbia is the county seat and is also South Carolina’s state capital.

How many towns are in Richland County?
Six incorporated municipalities — Columbia, Forest Acres, Blythewood, Irmo, Arcadia Lakes and Eastover — plus a number of unincorporated communities.

What ZIP codes are in Richland County?
Columbia alone uses roughly two dozen ZIP codes centred on 29201; outlying towns include 29063 (Irmo), 29016 (Blythewood) and 29044 (Eastover).

Does Richland County contain Congaree National Park?
Yes — the park’s old-growth floodplain forest sits in the county’s southern corner along the Congaree River.

More counties in this state: Towns and villages in South Carolina.