Greenville County is a county in South Carolina, United States, roughly 100 miles southwest of Charlotte, North Carolina, along Interstate 85. It had a population of 525,534 at the 2020 census, an estimated 548,166 by 2024, and covers 785.93 square miles (2,035.5 km2) centred near 34\u00b053\u2032N 82\u00b022\u2032W.<\/p>\n
Greenville is the county seat and the county’s largest city; its postal code is 29601. The county holds 6 incorporated cities and 19 unincorporated census-designated communities, has no civil townships, and runs on Eastern Time. Its FIPS code is 45045.<\/p>\n
Greenville County has 6 incorporated cities and 19 unincorporated census-designated places (CDPs). “City · seat” marks the county seat; “City” marks an independently incorporated municipality with its own government; “CDP” marks a Census Bureau statistical community with no city government of its own.<\/p>\n
| Place<\/th>\n | Type<\/th>\n | Pop. (2020)<\/th>\n | ZIP<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n |
|---|---|---|---|
| Greenville<\/td>\n | City · seat<\/td>\n | 70,720<\/td>\n | 29601–29617<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Greer<\/td>\n | City<\/td>\n | 35,308<\/td>\n | 29650–29652<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Mauldin<\/td>\n | City<\/td>\n | 24,724<\/td>\n | 29662<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Simpsonville<\/td>\n | City<\/td>\n | 23,354<\/td>\n | 29680–29681<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Fountain Inn<\/td>\n | City<\/td>\n | 10,416<\/td>\n | 29644<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Travelers Rest<\/td>\n | City<\/td>\n | 7,788<\/td>\n | 29690<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Taylors<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | 23,222<\/td>\n | 29687<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Wade Hampton<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | 21,482<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Five Forks<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | 17,737<\/td>\n | 29681, 29651<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Berea<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | 15,578<\/td>\n | 29617<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n Two of the six cities straddle a county line. Greer’s charter runs into Spartanburg County: of its 35,308 residents in 2020, roughly 25,587 lived on the Greenville County side as of 2023 estimates. Fountain Inn’s southern edge sits in Laurens County, home to about 2,639 of its 10,416 residents, with the remaining 7,777 in Greenville County. The CDP of Piedmont, further southwest, likewise crosses into Anderson County. Fifteen smaller CDPs round out the county’s places without a full 2020 count verified here: Caesars Head, City View, Conestee, Dunean, Gantt, Golden Grove, Judson, Parker, Piedmont, Sans Souci, Slater-Marietta, The Cliffs Valley, Tigerville, Ware Place and Welcome.<\/p>\n ZIP Codes<\/h2>\nCDPs such as Wade Hampton, Sans Souci, Dunean and Judson have no post office or ZIP code of their own; mail there is addressed under one of Greenville’s own ZIP codes because the communities sit inside the city’s postal service area without ever being annexed into it.<\/p>\n Geography<\/h2>\nThe county’s northern third climbs into the Blue Ridge foothills, reaching about 3,266 feet at Caesars Head; the southern two-thirds flatten into the Piedmont plateau, drained by the Reedy, Enoree and Saluda rivers. Falls Park on the Reedy, in downtown Greenville, is built around a natural 28-foot waterfall on the river.<\/p>\n Greenville County borders Henderson County, North Carolina, to the north; Polk County, North Carolina, to the northeast; Spartanburg County to the east; Laurens County to the southeast; Abbeville County to the south; Anderson County to the southwest; Pickens County to the west; and Transylvania County, North Carolina, to the northwest.<\/p>\n Demographics<\/h2>\nThe county’s population grew from 525,534 at the 2020 census to an estimated 548,166 in 2024, a gain of about 4 percent in four years. Greenville (70,720) and Greer (35,308, roughly a third of it across the Spartanburg County line) are the two largest communities. Median household income was $76,932 in 2024, above the South Carolina median of $69,324. At the 2024 estimate, the county’s population density works out to roughly 697 people per square mile of land.<\/p>\n Economy & Local Life<\/h2>\nManufacturing is the county’s largest employment sector at 42,042 workers, followed by health care and social assistance at 35,311 and retail trade at 28,129. Michelin North America keeps its headquarters in Greenville, and Prisma Health, the state’s largest nonprofit health system, is based there too. BMW Manufacturing runs its largest North American plant just outside Greer, near Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport, employing about 9,000 people; Lockheed Martin operates an aircraft-sustainment center at the same airport. Furman University, a private liberal arts college, sits on the Greenville-Travelers Rest line. Greenville County School District is the largest in South Carolina. Each autumn, downtown Greenville hosts Fall for Greenville, a three-day street food and music festival now in its fifth decade.<\/p>\n History<\/h2>\nGreenville County was established in 1786, carved from Cherokee land ceded after Revolutionary War-era fighting between American Whigs and British-allied Tory and Cherokee forces, and named for General Nathanael Greene, who led the Continental Army’s Southern campaign. Furman University moved to Greenville from Winnsboro in 1851. Textile manufacturing dominated the local economy from the late 1800s through the mid-1900s; by 1915 Greenville was known as the “Textile Center of the South,” with as many as 19 mills operating in the city at one point. The Southern Railway’s completion through the area in 1893 linked that textile economy to national markets. Foreign direct investment reshaped the county again starting in 1994, when BMW opened its plant near Greer, drawing a wave of international manufacturers to the Upstate.<\/p>\n Getting There<\/h2>\nInterstate 85 crosses the county’s southeastern corner through Greenville, Mauldin and Simpsonville; I-385 branches southeast toward Columbia, and I-185 forms a toll bypass around downtown Greenville. US 25, US 29, US 123 and US 276 also cross the county.<\/p>\n
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