Union, South Carolina.
Typical home $139,351 (+5.6% in a year). Union, SC metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$358 (+96%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $7,441 +6%
- $131,910$139,351 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $6,452 +5%
- $132,899$139,351 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.
- Union$731
- South Carolina$1,597
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 73 years.
Typical home values in Union, SC rose 5.6% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Union, Union County, South Carolina
Union is a city of 8,174 people in Union County. Half its households earn more than $31,914 a year and half less, against $41,621 across Union County; 29% of its people live below the poverty line. 50% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 50% are rented. Unemployment in Union County was 6.3% in August 2026, and the county had 1.4% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in manufacturing, then schools and health care.
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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Union is a small city in the upper part of South Carolina, the seat of Union County. The population skews older, and incomes run well below the county's, with a larger share of people living in poverty than is typical. Homes are split about evenly between owners and renters, and relatively few adults hold a four-year degree. Winters are cool and summers are hot, with rain through the year and only a dusting of snow.
Work. Many residents work in manufacturing, in schools, hospitals and social care, in transport, warehouses and utilities, and in shops. Union 01 Schools, Walmart and Union Medical Center are among the largest workplaces in town. Unemployment is higher than many people would like, and Union County has lost some jobs over the past year. Very few people work from home, and the drive to work is a moderate one.
Things to do. Rose Hill Plantation State Historic Site, a protected historic place, and John D. Long Lake are both a short drive away, along with Buffalo Creek and other nearby creeks. For a longer outing, Croft State Park and Sumter National Forest are protected areas a longer drive away, good for time outdoors. Musgrove Mill State Historic Site, an archaeological site, is also a longer drive from town.
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- 3,904households
- 16%of adults have a degree
- 29%below the poverty line
- 26 mintypical commute
- 2%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Union County had 7,318 jobs in 2025, 1.4% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 53° and lows near 29°; warmest in July, with highs near 90° and lows near 68°. About 2 inches of snow and 45 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Union South weather station, 8 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Union
- Union 01 SchoolsSchool district553FTE
- WalmartWarehouse clubs and supercenters277
- Union Medical CenterGeneral hospital152FTE
- City of UnionCity and town managers' offices144
- University of South Carolina-UnionTwo-year college123
- Union Community HealthcareNursing homes98
- Union County Disabilities and Special Needs BoardIntellectual and developmental disability facilities, residential78
- Floco FoodsGrocery stores59
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 7 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 1,054 people in all. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24), hospitals from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023) and colleges from IPEDS (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
- LightningVery high
- Ice stormsRelatively high
- TornadoesRelatively high
- Strong windRelatively high
- Heat wavesRelatively moderate
- HailRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Union’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively moderate. 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 Union County and the Union, SC metro.
Union home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Union$139,351
- South Carolina$304,319
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 5 Union listings — the market is heating up.
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.
- Union21.95%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Union48
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Union9
Zip codes with a Union address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Union — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.