Horry County’s Burgeoning Population

By Dennis Mitchell

Population growth in Horry County is the single most difficult element Horry County Government must deal with as it budgets public tax dollars each year as it works to provide goods and services to its ever growing population.

In 1980, Horry County crossed the 100,000 permanent population marker for the first time. By the year 2000, the county was just a couple thousand residents short of the 200,000 marker. Best estimates today show the current population as slightly over 411,000 permanent residents and an average daily population (residents, tourists, visitors and workers) doubling that amount.

During that four decade period, resident population within the cities in the county has dropped from 40 percent in 1980 to less than 25 percent in 2024. In other words, the resident population in the unincorporated areas of the county, those areas for which the county must provide all goods and services, is drawing the largest proportion of new residents.

One example demonstrates this rapid population shift. Carolina Forest, which now has a population estimated at approximately 60,000 residents was an undeveloped area owned by International Paper in 1980 and used as a tree farm for its paper mills as well as being an area for hunting and fishing by local residents.

Population growth is tracking ever westward in Horry County building on lands that once made Horry County the second largest flue cured tobacco growing county in the nation. What once were roads among the fields used to bring tobacco to sales warehouses now must deal with ever increasing numbers of residents going to work, shop and recreation.

At the same time, the South Carolina state government has largely ignored the ever increasing need for road improvements and construction in Horry County while serving the road needs of the Charleston, Columbia and Greenville areas. The need for road improvements has fallen on the backs of county council representatives in Horry County which has responded with a series of RIDE (Road Improvement and Development Effort) initiatives funded with a one-cent local option sales tax.

As Horry County voters go to the polls for the June primary and November general elections, one of the major questions they should ask is which candidate has served or will best serve the ever increasing needs of county residents in Columbia?

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