Aiken County, SC

Settlement & growth (pre-1960)

Long before European arrival, the area now known as Aiken County was inhabited by the Cherokee and Creek (Muscogee) peoples, who used the region’s river valleys for hunting and trade. The Savannah River formed a natural boundary between their territories. European contact came in the mid-1700s, when British traders and settlers from coastal South Carolina pushed inland along the Savannah River, establishing small farms and trading posts. The area was part of the larger Ninety-Six District before becoming its own entity.

The first major wave of permanent European settlers arrived in the late 1700s and early 1800s, primarily Scots-Irish and English migrants moving west from the Lowcountry. They were drawn by cheap, fertile land in the Sandhills region, where they established small subsistence farms and later cotton plantations. The town of Aiken itself was founded in 1835 as a depot on the South Carolina Railroad, quickly becoming a shipping point for cotton. The railroad also brought the first significant Black population to the area, as enslaved Africans were forced into the cotton economy. By 1860, the county’s population was majority Black, a pattern that persisted for decades.

After the Civil War and Reconstruction, the county’s economy shifted. The 1880s and 1890s saw the arrival of Northern industrialists and wealthy winter residents, who discovered Aiken’s mild climate and built grand estates for fox hunting, polo, and equestrian sports. This “Winter Colony” transformed the town of Aiken into a resort destination for the elite, including families like the Vanderbilts and Whitneys. This influx created a service economy and drew in Black laborers from surrounding rural areas to work as grooms, stable hands, and domestic staff. Meanwhile, the town of Graniteville, founded in 1845, became a major textile manufacturing center, attracting poor White farmers from the upstate and, later, Black workers from the countryside. The textile mills in Graniteville, Warrenville, and Vaucluse created tight-knit, largely White mill villages that persisted well into the 20th century.

The early 1900s through the 1950s saw little new immigration. The county’s population remained overwhelmingly native-born, with a large Black agricultural and mill-working class and a White population split between old-planter families, mill workers, and the wealthy Winter Colony. The Great Migration (1910–1970) saw tens of thousands of Black residents leave Aiken County for Northern industrial cities, reducing the Black population share from a majority to a large minority. By 1960, the county was roughly 60% White and 40% Black, a ratio that would hold for decades.

Modern era (post-1965)

The 1965 Hart-Cellar Act had little direct effect on Aiken County, as the foreign-born population remains just 1.8% today—far below the national average. Instead, the county’s modern demographic story is one of domestic migration. Beginning in the 1970s and accelerating through the 2000s, retirees and families from the Northeast, Midwest, and Florida began moving to Aiken County, drawn by lower taxes, affordable housing, and the area’s equestrian and golf amenities. This wave settled primarily in the city of Aiken itself, as well as in planned communities like Woodside Plantation and Houndslake, and in the suburban areas around North Augusta.

The 1990s and 2000s brought a second domestic wave: workers and families relocating for jobs at the Savannah River Site (SRS), a nuclear facility located just south of Aiken in Allendale County. SRS employed thousands of engineers, scientists, and technicians, many of whom moved from other parts of the country. This influx raised the county’s college-educated share to 31.1% and brought a more professional, transient population to areas like New Ellenton and Jackson, as well as the southern parts of Aiken city.

The Hispanic population, now 7.0% of the county, grew primarily from the 2000s onward, driven by labor demand in construction, landscaping, agriculture, and poultry processing. This community is concentrated in and around Aiken and North Augusta, with smaller clusters in Graniteville and Wagener. The growth has been steady but not explosive, and the Hispanic population remains a distinct minority. The Asian population (East and Southeast Asian) stands at just 0.7%, and the Indian subcontinent population at 0.3%, both concentrated among professionals working at SRS or in healthcare in Aiken and North Augusta. The Black population, now 24.2%, has declined as a share since the mid-20th century due to continued out-migration of younger Black residents to larger cities and the influx of White retirees and professionals. Black communities remain strong in Aiken’s south side, in Graniteville, and in rural areas like Monetta and Salley.