Jury Pool Profile

Dorchester County, South Carolina

Republican +14.6 (2024)

County seat: St. George
Judicial district: 1st Judicial Circuit Court
Population (July 2025 estimate): 178,397; Census PEP. The five-year ACS survey average is 167,201.

At a glance

Dorchester County is a 178,397-person venue. The county population is 62% White and 25% Black (Census race-alone categories). Median household income is $84,239, $11,732 above the SC state median of $72,507; 29.8% of residents 25 and over hold a bachelor's degree or higher. 7.5% of residents 5 and older speak a language other than English at home, most commonly Spanish and Tagalog. The largest published sector is Trade, transportation & utilities, at 21.4% of covered employment, average pay $49,862/year. Trailing-12-month unemployment is 4.06%, below the 4.7% state average. The county carried the Republican presidential candidate in 2016, 2020, and 2024, taking 54% to 56% of the vote across the three.

Population: 167,201
Median household income: $78,198
Unemployment: 4.1%

Who sits on a jury?

Racially mixed

50–70% White and ≥15% Black. This county: 62% / 25%.

Dorchester County has a population of 167,201, with a median age of 38.0. By Census race-alone categories, White residents make up 61.9%; Black residents 25.2%. Independently, 7.2% of residents identify as Hispanic or Latino of any race.

The median household earns $84,239; 29.8% of residents 25 and over hold a bachelor's degree or higher; 9.1% live below the federal poverty line.

Race & ethnicity

White (non-Hispanic) 101,283 60.6%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 12,058 7.2%
Black or African American (non-Hispanic) 41,565 24.9%
Asian (non-Hispanic) 3,492 2.1%
Two or more races (non-Hispanic) 7,345 4.4%
American Indian / Alaska Native (non-Hispanic) 348 0.2%
Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander (non-Hispanic) 20 0.0%
Some other race (non-Hispanic) 1,090 0.7%

U.S. Census ACS 2024

Age distribution

Median age 38

Under 18 40,253 24.1%
18–24 13,082 7.8%
25–44 46,538 27.8%
45–64 41,921 25.1%
65 and over 25,407 15.2%

U.S. Census ACS 2024

Income & poverty

Median household income: $84,239; 90% interval $77,377–$91,101; +$11,732 vs SC · 5th of 46
Below poverty line: 9.1%; 90% interval 7.3%–10.9%; −4.2 pp vs SC · 43rd of 46

U.S. Census SAIPE 2024

Economic context

Led by healthcare & education and trade & transportation

Counting the cells BLS withholds (private jobs estimated from Census County Business Patterns, government jobs from the statewide mix), the two largest sectors are within 20% of each other: Education & health services about 9,120, Trade, transportation & utilities about 9,060.

Trade, transportation & utilities is the largest published sector at 21.4% of covered employment, followed by Manufacturing at 14.3%. Trailing-12-month unemployment is 4.06%, below the South Carolina state average.

Local economy

Unemployment (12-mo): 4.1%; −0.64 pp vs. state
County GDP: $6.7B; 1.88% of state
Avg. annual pay: $55,618
Establishments: 3,696

U.S. BLS 2026M07 · U.S. BEA 2024 · BLS QCEW 2025

Top employment sectors

Average annual employment by supersector

Trade, transportation & utilities 8,936 21.4%
Manufacturing 5,994 14.3%
Leisure & hospitality 5,504 13.2%
Education & health services 4,455 10.7%
Professional & business services 4,064 9.7%
Construction 2,439 5.8%
Financial activities 1,529 3.7%
Other services 1,370 3.3%
Information 368 0.9%
Natural resources & mining 169 0.4%
Public administration 95 0.2%

The sectors listed cover 83.5% of covered employment; BLS withholds the rest to avoid disclosing individual employers.

BLS QCEW 2025

Housing

Home ownership: 75.5%; +3.6 pp vs SC · 17th of 46
Median gross rent: $1,463; +$283 vs SC · 4th of 46
Owner-occupied: 47,721
Renter-occupied: 15,458

U.S. Census ACS 2024

Local economy in 3 reads

Diversified

Top three sectors employ 49% of the workforce, a relatively diversified local economy. Expect mixed employer backgrounds on the panel rather than concentration in any one institution or industry.
Wide wage spread

Highest-paid sector (Public administration, $110,746/yr) pays 4.6× the lowest (Leisure & hospitality, $24,237/yr). Stark intra-economy class divisions on the panel; calibrate damages and lost-wages framing to that range.
Mixed business scale

Average establishment employs 11 workers, a mix of institutional employers and small businesses. Both employed-by-large-institution and small-business-owner perspectives are likely on the panel.

BLS QCEW 2025

Political composition

Consistently Republican

Republican candidate carried this county in 2016, 2020, and 2024 (avg winning share: 56%). 'Strongly' threshold: ≥60% avg.

Dorchester County was carried by the Republican candidate in the 2016, 2020, and 2024 cycles, with 56.4% in 2024, 54.2% in 2020, 55.9% in 2016.

Presidential results

2024 presidential · 77,764 votes cast

Republican
Democratic

Republican 43,839 56.4%
Democratic 32,489 41.8%
Other / third-party 1,436 1.8%

Election results 2024

Languages, households, faith & health

Family-dominant, English-speaking

Family households are 70% of all households (thresholds: ≥70% = 'family-dominant'; 50–70% = 'family-majority'; <50% = 'singles/nonfamily-majority'). 7.5% of residents 5 and older speak a language other than English at home (threshold for 'linguistically diverse' is ≥10%).

7.5% of residents 5 years and older speak a language other than English at home. The most common are Spanish, Tagalog, Chinese. Veterans account for 11.8% of the adult civilian population (14,738 individuals).

Languages spoken at home

92.5% speak only English at home

Spanish 7,314 4.6%
Tagalog 536 0.3%
Chinese 465 0.3%
German or other West Germanic 457 0.3%
Russian, Polish, or other Slavic 369 0.2%
French, Haitian, or Cajun 365 0.2%
Vietnamese 352 0.2%
Arabic 109 0.1%
Korean 92 0.1%

U.S. Census ACS 2024

Household composition

Households: 63,179
Family households: 44,260; 70.1% of households
Married couples w/ children: 12,588; 28.4% of families
Single-mother families: 5,729; 12.9% of families
Veterans: 14,738; 11.8% of civilians 18+

U.S. Census ACS 2024

Religious composition

41.8% overall adherence rate

Evangelical Protestant 28,061 17.4%
Catholic 17,484 10.8%
Mainline Protestant 13,077 8.1%
Black Protestant 4,802 3.0%
Other (non-Christian + minor traditions) 4,040 2.5%
Orthodox 120 0.1%

US Religion Census 2020

Health & education

Health insured: 89.8%; ±1 pp
Uninsured: 10.2%; ±1 pp; 22nd of 46
With a disability: 13.8%; ±0.9 pp; 39th of 46
Bachelor's or higher: 29.8%; ±1.5 pp; −2.3 pp vs SC · 11th of 46
Uninsured, under 65 (2024): 10.0%; 90% interval 9.1%–10.9% · Census SAHIE

The under-65 uninsured rate is not comparable to the ACS insurance figures, which cover all ages.

U.S. Census ACS 2024

Court infrastructure

Trial court: 1st Judicial Circuit Court
Judges: 3 (Resident Circuit Court judgeships authorized for this circuit by S.C. Code Ann. 14-5-610, as amended by 2026 Act No. 154. Authorized seats, not seated judges; South Carolina also elects at-large circuit judges statewide who are not counted in any circuit.)
Court seats: Orangeburg, St. George, St. Matthews

This judicial district spans multiple counties.

Court reference

Traffic safety context

Dorchester totals, 2024

Traffic fatalities: 38; 29.93 per 100k adults (18+)
Fatal crashes: 33

NHTSA FARS 2024