What are South Carolina's latest state and county per capita income figures used for tax incentives (per SC IL #07-11)?

Plain-English summary

This Information Letter publishes South Carolina's per capita income figures — $29,515 for the state, plus a figure for every county — that the Department uses to test eligibility for various tax incentives. Several South Carolina income, sales and use, and property tax incentives tie eligibility, or the size of the benefit, to a state or county per capita income threshold. To help taxpayers apply those tests, the Department publishes the current figures, and this letter is the May 11, 2007 update.

The Department explains that it updates the state per capita income figure about twice a year (usually May and October) and the county figures once a year (usually May), releasing each when it receives them from the South Carolina Board of Economic Advisors. Among the 46 counties in this edition, Beaufort is the highest at $39,308 and Allendale is the lowest at $18,871. The full county-by-county table appears in the original text below.

What this means for you

If you are claiming or evaluating a South Carolina incentive that depends on per capita income — for example the job tax credit (which ranks counties partly on per capita income) or the corporate headquarters credit (which compares job compensation to a multiple of state per capita income) — use the figure for the relevant county or the state figure of $29,515 from this edition, and confirm you are using the figure in effect for your incentive period.

Common questions

Q: What is South Carolina's state per capita income in this letter?
A: $29,515 statewide, as of the May 11, 2007 update.

Q: Which county is highest and which is lowest?
A: Beaufort County is highest at $39,308 and Allendale County is lowest at $18,871.

Q: How often are these figures updated?
A: The state figure is updated about twice a year (usually May and October) and the county figures once a year (usually May), based on data from the South Carolina Board of Economic Advisors.

Subject

Per Capita Income Figures for State of South Carolina and Counties

Source

• Landing page: https://dor.sc.gov/advisory-opinion-search
• Original PDF: https://dor.sc.gov/sites/dor/files/policies/IL07-11.pdf

Original ruling text

State of South Carolina

Department of Revenue
301 Gervais Street, P. O. Box 12265, Columbia, South Carolina 29211
Website Address: http://www.sctax.org

SC INFORMATION LETTER #07-11

SUBJECT:

Per Capita Income Figures for State of South Carolina and Counties

DATE:

May 11, 2007

SUPERSEDES: All previous documents and any oral directives in conflict herewith.
REFERENCE: S. C. Code Section 12-6-3360 (2000, Supp. 2006)
S. C. Code Section 12-6-3410 (2000, Supp. 2006)
S. C. Code Chapter 15, Title 12 (Supp. 2006)
S. C. Code Section 12-36-2120(65) (2000, Supp. 2006)
S. C. Code 12-37-930 (2000, Supp. 2006)
AUTHORITY: S. C. Code Ann. Section 12-4-320 (2000)
S.C. Code Ann. Section 1-23-10(4) (Supp. 2005)
SC Revenue Procedure #05-2
SCOPE:

An Information Letter is a written statement issued to the public to
announce general information useful in complying with the laws
administered by the Department. An Information Letter has no
precedential value.

In recent years, a number of income, sales and use, and property tax incentives have been
added that require jobs associated with the incentive to meet certain state or county per
capita personal income (herein referred to as “per capita income”) requirements to
determine qualification for, or the amount of, the particular incentive. In order to aid
taxpayers in determining whether the per capita income requirements of an incentive are
met, the Department publishes the county and state per capita income amounts each year.
Generally, the information concerning state per capita income is updated twice a year,
usually in May and October. The information concerning per capita income for South
Carolina’s counties is updated once a year, usually in May. The Department publishes both
the county and state figures when it receives the figures from the South Carolina Board of
Economic Advisors. The most recently available state per capita income figure is:
State of South Carolina $29,515

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The following chart contains the most recently available per capita income figures for all
South Carolina counties.
County

Per Capita Income
$22,111
$28,418
$18,871
$26,968
$20,989
$20,409
$39,308
$27,040
$28,429
$34,158
$22,651
$24,814
$22,286
$21,266
$22,764
$25,745
$20,850
$26,207
$23,157
$23,926
$28,486
$30,399
$31,759
$25,471
$21,566
$26,789
$23,696
$28,595
$23,560
$24,043
$20,307
$31,575
$20,299
$20,485
$20,643
$23,901
$28,561
$24,002
$24,572
$31,518
$25,667

Abbeville
Aiken
Allendale
Anderson
Bamberg
Barnwell
Beaufort
Berkeley
Calhoun
Charleston
Cherokee
Chester
Chesterfield
Clarendon
Colleton
Darlington
Dillon
Dorchester
Edgefield
Fairfield
Florence
Georgetown
Greenville
Greenwood
Hampton
Horry
Jasper
Kershaw
Lancaster
Laurens
Lee
Lexington
McCormick
Marion
Marlboro
Newberry
Oconee
Orangeburg
Pickens
Richland
Saluda

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Spartanburg
Sumter
Union
Williamsburg
York

$26,656
$25,042
$24,396
$20,005
$29,904

Among the incentives that use per capita income are the following:
Personal Property Corporate Headquarters Credit in Code Section 12-6-3410 - The
personal property headquarters credit contained in Code Section 12-6-3410 is available
to a taxpayer that: (1) meets all the requirements necessary to claim the real property
headquarters credit, (2) meets other statutory requirements as to the personal property
that is used at the headquarters; (3) creates at least 75 new full-time headquarters or
research and development type jobs at the headquarters and those jobs have an average
cash compensation level of more than one and one-half times the per capita income of
the state; and (4) pays all its employees in the state an average cash compensation level
of more than twice the state per capita income.
“Qualifying Service-Related Facility” Definition in Code Section 12-6-3360 - Code
Section 12-6-3360 allows a job tax credit for taxpayers that create new full-time jobs at
a qualifying new facility or an expansion of an existing qualifying facility. One of
qualifying facilities is a “qualifying service-related facility.” A “qualifying servicerelated facility” includes a business, other than a business engaged in legal, accounting,
banking or investment services or retail sales, which has a net increase at a single
location of at least:
(1) two hundred fifty jobs;
(2) one hundred twenty-five jobs that have an average cash compensation level of
more than one and one-half times the state per capita income or the per capita
income in the county where the jobs are located, whichever is lower;
(3) seventy-five jobs that have an average cash compensation level of more than
twice the state per capita income or the per capita income in the county where the
jobs are located, whichever is lower; or
(4) thirty jobs that have an average cash compensation level of more than two and
one-half times the state per capita income or the per capita income in the county
where the jobs are located, whichever is lower.
Sales and Use Tax Exemption for Computer Equipment for Technology Intensive
Facilities in Code Section 12-36-2120(65) – A sales and use tax exemption is available
for computer equipment used in connection with a technology intensive facility if the
taxpayer meets certain investment requirements and creates at least 100 jobs at the
facility over a five year period and those jobs have an average cash compensation of at
least 150% of the state per capita income.

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Special Benefits for Life Sciences Facilities in Chapter 15, Title 12 and Code Section
12-37-930 – A business may qualify for special incentives if its facility qualifies as a life
sciences facility. A business will qualify as a life sciences facility if it is engaged in
pharmaceutical, medicine, and related laboratory instrument manufacturing, processing,
or research and development and it invests $100 million in a project and creates 200
new jobs at the project with an average cash compensation of at least 150% of the
annual per capita income in the state or county in which the facility is located,
whichever is less.
Small Business Job Tax Credit in Code Section 12-6-3360 - Code Section 12-63360(C)(2) provides that small businesses with 99 or fewer employees that increase
employment by two or more new full-time jobs may be eligible for the job tax credit.
The amount of the credit depends in part on whether the gross wages of the new fulltime job amounts to a minimum of 120% of the county’s or state’s average per capita
income, whichever is lower.
Each of these incentives has special rules on how to determine whether the per capita
income requirements of each particular incentive have been met. Therefore, the appropriate
statutes should be consulted to determine whether the per capita income requirements of the
particular statute are met as well as to assure that all other requirements of the statute have
been met.

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