Best placesSouth CarolinaChildcare Cost

Counties With the Cheapest Childcare in South Carolina (2026)

Barnwell has the lowest childcare of any county in South Carolina, at $5,055, followed by Marion and Bamberg (data vintage 2022). The full ranking of the top 25 counties is below.

Data updated 2022 - Source: DOL Women's Bureau National Database of Childcare Prices

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Cheapest counties for childcare in South Carolina

Top 25 of 46 counties with data.

Ranked by childcare cost (DOL Women's Bureau National Database of Childcare Prices, 2022), lowest first.

Cheapest counties for childcare in South Carolina
RankCountyValue
1Barnwell$5,055
2Marion$5,598
3Bamberg$5,598
4Marlboro$5,598
5Allendale$5,598
6Cherokee$5,598
7Jasper$5,947
8Laurens$5,947
9Orangeburg$5,947
10Darlington$5,947
11Union$5,947
12Oconee$5,947
13Dillon$5,947
14Newberry$5,947
15Kershaw$5,947
16Hampton$6,268
17Abbeville$6,268
18Fairfield$6,268
19Chester$6,268
20McCormick$6,268
21Clarendon$6,268
22Saluda$6,268
23Edgefield$6,268
24Chesterfield$6,268
25Lee$6,268

How this ranking works

This page ranks South Carolina counties by childcare cost, sorted so the cheapest places appear first. Click any county to see its housing, schools, crime, and demographics in detail.

For childcare, a lower value is generally more favorable, so the top of the list is the lowest. Want to weigh childcare against schools, taxes, commute, and more at once? Use the live map to build a custom match.

Data comes from public sources. Source attribution and the exact data vintage are shown above and on the full map of childcare cost.

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