Barnwell, South Carolina.
Typical home $183,270 (+4.6% in a year).
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$399 (+71%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $8,108 +5%
- $175,161$183,270 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Down $3,909 -2%
- $187,179$183,270 since Sep 2021
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Barnwell$962
- South Carolina$1,597
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, prices here aren't rising.
Typical home values in Barnwell, SC rose 4.6% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Barnwell, Barnwell County, South Carolina
Barnwell is a city of 4,652 people in Barnwell County. Half its households earn more than $52,006 a year and half less, against $46,626 across Barnwell County; 24% of its people live below the poverty line. 64% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 36% are rented. Unemployment in Barnwell County was 5.6% in August 2026, and the county had 3.1% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most people in Barnwell County work in schools and health care, then manufacturing.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Barnwell is a small city in Barnwell County, South Carolina. Most homes are lived in by their owners, and household incomes run above the county's, though a good number of residents still live below the poverty line. Few adults hold a four-year degree, and almost nobody works from home. Winters are mild for most of the country, with cool days and cold nights in January, while July is hot, and rain falls steadily through the year.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, with manufacturing, restaurants and hotels, and professional and business services also employing a share of people. Among the largest workplaces in town are Barnwell 45 Schools, Walmart and Koch and Co. Unemployment across the county has eased over the past year, though the county has fewer jobs than it did a year earlier.
Things to do. Lake Brown is in or beside town, a convenient spot to be near the water. Barnwell State Park is a short drive away, and Rivers Bridge State Park, a protected area, is a longer drive. For history, the Topper archaeological site is also a longer drive away.
Report a mistake
- 1,789households
- 18%of adults have a degree
- 24%below the poverty line
- 2%work from home
What people in Barnwell County work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Barnwell County had 4,712 jobs in 2025, 3.1% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 59° and lows near 34°; warmest in July, with highs near 93° and lows near 71°. About 49 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Barnwell Ene weather station, 8 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Barnwell
- Barnwell 45 SchoolsSchool district302FTE
- WalmartWarehouse clubs and supercenters179
- Koch and CoCabinets, wood, manufacturing39
- Floco FoodsGrocery stores25
- BarnwellMail and parcel delivery21
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 4 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 264 people in all. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- HurricanesRelatively high
- LightningRelatively high
- Strong windRelatively high
- TornadoesRelatively high
- EarthquakesRelatively moderate
- Heat wavesRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Barnwell’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively high. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on Barnwell County.
Barnwell home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Barnwell$183,270
- South Carolina$304,319
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 7 Barnwell listings — the market is roughly in balance.
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Share of listings with a price cut
The early-warning dial: sellers cut when buyers stop reaching. Rising cuts cool a market months before prices notice.
- Barnwell14.67%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Barnwell34
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Barnwell10
Zip codes with a Barnwell address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Barnwell — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.