York County is a

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

in the U.S. state of

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

. As of the 2020 census, the population was 282,090, making it the seventh most populous county in the state. Its

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US ...

is the city of

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

, and its largest city is Rock Hill. The county is served by one interstate highway,

I-77 Interstate 77 (I-77) is a north–south Interstate Highway in the eastern United States. It traverses diverse terrain, from the mountainous state of West Virginia to the rolling farmlands of North Carolina and Ohio. It largely supplants the ...

. York County is part of the

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

Concord Concord may refer to: Meaning "agreement" * Pact or treaty, frequently between nations (indicating a condition of harmony) * Harmony, in music * Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other ...

- Gastonia

Metropolitan Statistical Area In the United States, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) is a geographical region with a relatively high population density at its core and close economic ties throughout the area. Such regions are neither legally incorporated as a city or tow ...

History

Pre-colonial and early colonial history

With a population of nearly 6,000 at the time of first European contact, the native inhabitants, the Catawba were primarily agriculturalists.

Hernando de Soto Hernando de Soto (; ; 1500 – 21 May, 1542) was a Spanish explorer and ''conquistador'' who was involved in expeditions in Nicaragua and the Yucatan Peninsula. He played an important role in Francisco Pizarro's conquest of the Inca Empire ...

passed through the area in the 1540s in his search for gold. Several decades later Juan Pardo recorded his observation of a predominant Native American tribe, later confirmed to be the Catawba, in the vicinity of present-day

Fort Mill Fort Mill, also known as Fort Mill Township, is a town in York County, South Carolina, United States. It is a suburb of Charlotte, North Carolina. As of 2020 census, 24,521 people live inside the town's corporate limits. Some businesses and resid ...

, east of the Catawba River. The Province of South Carolina was founded in 1670. Twelve years later it was divided into three counties. One of these, Craven County, roughly encompassed the northern half of the colony (including the southern half of present-day York County), while the northern portion of York County was considered part of

North Carolina North Carolina () is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 28th largest and List of states and territories of the United ...

. The first European settlers in the Carolina Piedmont, traditionally called the South Carolina Upcountry, were Scots-Irish

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their n ...

s. Rising rent and land prices in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

drove them southward down the

Great Wagon Road Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" *Artel Great ...

, and they began arriving in the Upcountry west of the Catawba River during the 1740s and settled in present-day York County during the 1750s.

North Carolina's rule

Before the boundaries between the two Carolinas were fixed, the northern portion of York County was part of

Bladen County, North Carolina Bladen County ()
, from the North Carolina Collection's website at the

...

, and in 1750 it was included in the newly created

Anson County, North Carolina Anson County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 22,055. Its county seat is Wadesboro. History The county was formed in 1750 from Bladen County. It was named for George Anson, ...

(the first land grants and deeds for the region were issued in Anson). In 1762 Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, was formed from western Anson and included present-day northern York County. Five years later, the area became part of Tryon County, North Carolina, which comprised all of

west of the Catawba River and south of Rowan County. This area would remain a part of Tryon County until 1772, when the boundary between North and South Carolina in this portion was finally established.

18th century

After its transfer to South Carolina in 1772, much of the area was known as the ''New Acquisition''. In 1785, York County was one of the original counties in the newly created state of

, and its boundaries remained unchanged until 1897, when a small portion of the northwestern corner (including the site of the

Battle of Kings Mountain The Battle of Kings Mountain was a military engagement between Patriot and Loyalist militias in South Carolina during the Southern Campaign of the American Revolutionary War, resulting in a decisive victory for the Patriots. The battle took p ...

), was ceded to the newly formed

Cherokee County, South Carolina Cherokee County is a county in the U.S. state of South Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 56,216. The county seat is Gaffney. The county was formed in 1897 from parts of York, Union, and Spartanburg Counties. It was named fo ...

. By 1780, the Carolina Upcountry had an estimated population of more than 250,000, predominantly Scots-Irish Presbyterians but with significant numbers of other

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

s from Great Britain. The Scots-Irish settled in a dispersed community pattern denoted by communal, clannish, family-related groups known as "clachans", much the same as in Pennsylvania and Ulster, Northern Ireland. The clachans developed around the Presbyterian Kirks, or meetinghouses, and became the forerunners of the congregations. In York County, the ''"Five B" churches'', all Presbyterian—- Bethany, Bethel, Bethesda, Beersheba and Bullock's Creek—- are the county's oldest. Sandwiched between unfriendly natives to the west,

Cherokee The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, th ...

Shawnee The Shawnee are an Algonquian-speaking indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. In the 17th century they lived in Pennsylvania, and in the 18th century they were in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with some bands in Kentucky a ...

and Creek Native American tribes, and indifference on the part of English officials in Charleston, who considered residents of the Backcountry uncivilized, the early settlers frequently found themselves targets of Native American raids, and the local

militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...

became an early police force, patrolling the area for possible Native American or

slave Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

troubles and controlling the seemingly numerous outlaw bands which roamed the region. Militia units, or "Beat Companies", enrolled every able-bodied man on the frontier. KingsMountain DeathOfFerguson Chappel

Residents of the Upcountry were initially slow to take sides in the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, content to remain neutral as long as left unmolested; the conflict was initially viewed as one between the

British Crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...

and Charleston plutocrats. The New Acquisition entered into vocal opposition to Royal authority in 1780 only after three "invasions" of the region: the first by Banastre Tarleton and his "Green Dragoons", and two more by Lord Cornwallis. Most of the state had capitulated to the British after their capture of Charleston, but after the

Waxhaw massacre The Waxhaw massacre, (also known as the Waxhaws, Battle of Waxhaw, and Buford's massacre) took place during the American Revolutionary War on May 29, 1780, near Lancaster, South Carolina, between a Continental Army force led by Abraham Buford and ...

in nearby Lancaster County in May 1780, residents of the New Acquisition took part in a regional resistance. Led by men such as William "Billy" Hill, William Bratton, and Samuel Watson, both the battles of

Huck's Defeat Huck's Defeat or the Battle of Williamson's Plantation was an engagement of the American Revolutionary War that occurred in present York County, South Carolina on July 12, 1780, and was one of the first battles of the southern campaign to be won ...

and Kings Mountain, were fought in the New Acquisition. These defeats forced Cornwallis northward, and led to his ultimate surrender at Yorktown. After the defeat of the British, Upcountry residents enjoyed a greater share of administration in their region. The area experienced phenomenal growth after the war. In first United States census (1790), York County had a population of 6,604; 923 were listed as slaves, with a quarter of the county's slaves belonging to just nine men. Less than 15% of the county's population lived in bondage in 1790, while the state averaged 30%. A county seat was laid out in 1786 at Fergus' Cross Roads, where several roads converged near the geographic center of the county. The new town was first known as the village of York, or more commonly York Court House. In 1841, the town was incorporated as " Yorkville." In 1823 its population (as recorded by local architect, Robert Mills), was 441—which included 292 whites and 149 blacks. By 1840 the population had reached 600, and in 1850 Yorkville consisted of 93 dwellings and 617 inhabitants. In the years just prior to the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...

, the town gained a reputation as a summer

resort A resort (North American English) is a self-contained commercial establishment that tries to provide most of a vacationer's wants, such as food, drink, swimming, lodging, sports, entertainment, and shopping, on the premises. The term ''resort ...

for many Lowcountry planters trying to escape the

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. ...

swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

s of the region for the more moderate climate to be found in the Upstate. By 1860, the population of the town had topped 1,300—an increase of more than 125% in only one decade. During the Civil War, the town became a focal point for residents from the Lowcountry as a refugee destination during Union occupation of their towns.

19th century

Early 19th century through Civil War

With the introduction of the

cotton gin A cotton gin—meaning "cotton engine"—is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, enabling much greater productivity than manual cotton separation.. Reprinted by McGraw-Hill, New York and London, 1926 (); a ...

in the 1790s, the county's economic prospects increased as the importance of "King Cotton" grew, and slavery became an integral part of the economy. In 1800, 25% of all white families in the Upcountry owned slaves, but by 1820 nearly 40% were slaveholders. Slave ownership increased significantly in York County between 1800 and 1860, though most slaves worked on small and medium-sized farms rather than larger plantations. In 1800, whites made up 82.10% of the total population in York County, but by 1860 the white percentage of the total population had dropped to 62.50%. Figures from 1860 reveal slave holdings in York County were relatively small, with approximately 70% of all farms holding fewer than 10 slaves and less than 3% of the farms with 50 or more. The proportion of York District farms in 1860 was: * Less than : 20% * 51 to 100 acres (0.2 to ): 23.9% * 101 to 500 acres (0.4 to ): 53.9% * More than : 2.7% In 1810 the York District had increased in population to more than 10,000, of which over 3,000 were slaves. By 1850, York District included 15,000 residents, over 40% of whom were slaves. On the eve of the Civil War, the county's population had grown to approximately 21,500, with almost 1/2 of the population enslaved labor. York County was heavily tied to agriculture, with 93% of the work force involved in raising crops in 1850, while the rest of the United States averaged a 78% agricultural work force. In 1825 only three post offices operated in all of York County, at Yorkville, Blairsville and Hopewell, but by 1852 York District had 27. The county's first newspaper, ''The Yorkville Pioneer'', was established in 1823 (it ran for little more than a year), and was followed by several other attempts, until ''The Yorkville Enquirer'' was first published in 1855 (and which remains in publication today). Chartered in 1848, the Kings Mountain Railroad Company began construction of a connecting line between Yorkville and the Charlotte and South Carolina Railway at Chester (completed in 1852). Rock Hill, located along the Charlotte and South Carolina route, rapidly developed as a transportation center in eastern York County, boasting 100 residents in 1860. More than a dozen academies were operating in the county at the outbreak of the Civil War. The most famous was the Kings Mountain Military Academy in Yorkville, founded in 1854 by Micah Jenkins and Asbury Coward. On the eve of the

, York District was one of the more populated districts in Upstate South Carolina., p. 35 There were 14

infantry Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and mar ...

companies formed in York County after war was declared. Of the 4,379 soldiers enlisted from York County, 805 died and many more were wounded. Only one minor battle was fought in the York District, the battle for the Catawba Bridge at Nations Ford in 1865.

Late 19th century

Between 1868 and 1871, York County became a hotbed of

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and Cat ...

attacks on African Americans. The Klan had an estimated 2,000 members in the county in 1871. Among their activities was the lynching of Jim Williams on March 6, 1871, led by Dr. J. Rufus Bratton. K Troop of the 7th Cavalry Regiment was charged with suppressing them. To escape the violence, in November 1871, a large group of local blacks, led by Rev. Elias Hill, a crippled anti-Klan activist beaten by Klansmen, emigrated to Liberia.Witt, John Fabian. Patriots and Cosmopolitans: Hidden Histories of American Law. Harvard University Press, June 30, 2009, p85-86, 128–149 York is believed by some to be the setting for Thomas F. Dixon, Jr.'s novel '' The Clansman: A Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan'', later made into the motion picture "

The Birth of a Nation ''The Birth of a Nation'', originally called ''The Clansman'', is a 1915 American silent epic drama film directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Lillian Gish. The screenplay is adapted from Thomas Dixon Jr.'s 1905 novel and play ''The Clan ...

", and Bratton is said to have been the inspiration for one of its characters. During

Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology * Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *''Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Unio ...

many of York County's larger property owners were forced to sell off portions of their land to smaller farmers. The size of the average farm in York County dropped considerably while the number of small farming operations increased. Late-19th century agriculture in York County was characterized by relatively small farm operations and an ignorance of soil qualities and the benefits of

diversification Diversification may refer to: Biology and agriculture * Genetic divergence, emergence of subpopulations that have accumulated independent genetic changes * Agricultural diversification involves the re-allocation of some of a farm's resources to n ...

, which eventually led to the agricultural difficulties of the 1890s, 1920s, and 1930s. Railroad development continued in York County after the war's end, and in 1880 the Rock Hill Cotton Factory, the first

steam-power A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be tran ...

ed cotton factory in South Carolina, ushered in a new era of agricultural expansion and industrial development. The Rock Hill Buggy Company, founded by John Gary Anderson, eventually grew to become the Anderson Motor Company, the first automobile manufacturing facility in the South. Concurrently, Rock Hill's population increased from 809 to over 5,500 from 1880 to 1895.

20th century

Cotton production remained the dominant agriculture export in early 20th century York County, with the

textile industry The textile industry is primarily concerned with the design, production and distribution of yarn, textile, cloth and clothing. The raw material may be Natural material, natural, or synthetic using products of the chemical industry. Industry p ...

continuing to develop. Rock Hill became the hub of this industry, while mills blossomed throughout the county. South Carolina's peak cotton crop was harvested in 1921, and thereafter, cotton production began a long and steady decline, due in part to boll weevil infestations,

soil erosion Soil erosion is the denudation or wearing away of the upper layer of soil. It is a form of soil degradation. This natural process is caused by the dynamic activity of erosive agents, that is, water, ice (glaciers), snow, air (wind), plants, a ...

, and

mechanization Mechanization is the process of changing from working largely or exclusively by hand or with animals to doing that work with machinery. In an early engineering text a machine is defined as follows: In some fields, mechanization includes the ...

of farming technologies. The

New Deal The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Con ...

programs of the 1930s prodded farmers into switching to different crops, with cotton gradually becoming less and less the focal point of the county's economy. In 1904 the Catawba Dam and Power Plant was completed, and Lake Wylie was created. The Catawba Power Company had been founded in 1899 by William C. Whitner, Dr. Gill Wylie, and Robert Wylie. Construction began in 1900 and when finally completed, the dam and

power plant A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many ...

were one of the most important engineering accomplishments in the southeastern United States. The venture eventually led to the formation of

Duke Power Company Duke Energy Corporation is an American electric power and natural gas holding company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. Overview Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, Duke Energy owns 58,200 megawatts of base-load and peak generation in ...

, and a later series of dams and hydroelectric facilities were built on the Catawba in both North and South Carolina. The Catawba Power Plant sparked the industrialization of the Catawba Valley; by 1911 more than a million textile spindles were powered by it.

Geography and climate

According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...

, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (2.2%) is water. York County is located in north central

, along the

border. Its natural boundaries are the Broad River on the west and the Catawba River on the east. All of York County is within the

piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

region. Although heavily wooded in many rural areas and retaining a predominantly rural character in its western sector, York County is part of the greater Charlotte metropolitan region and includes Rock Hill, the county's largest city, as well as the smaller cities of Tega Cay and

and the smaller towns of

Clover Clover or trefoil are common names for plants of the genus ''Trifolium'' (from Latin ''tres'' 'three' + ''folium'' 'leaf'), consisting of about 300 species of flowering plants in the legume or pea family Fabaceae originating in Europe. The genus ...

, Hickory Grove, McConnells, Sharon, and Lake Wylie. Henry's Knob, a mountain and site of a former

open-pit mining Open-pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining, is a surface mining technique of extracting rock or minerals from the earth from an open-air pit, sometimes known as a borrow. This form of mini ...

operation for the world's largest deposit of kyanite stands at above sea level. the mountain is near the North Carolina border and the town of

. According to

United States Environmental Protection Agency The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it ...

(EPA) records, the mine is listed as a

Superfund Superfund is a United States federal environmental remediation program established by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). The program is administered by the Environmental Protection Agency ...

Alternative Site for

acid mine drainage Acid mine drainage, acid and metalliferous drainage (AMD), or acid rock drainage (ARD) is the outflow of acidic water from metal mines or coal mines. Acid rock drainage occurs naturally within some environments as part of the rock weathering ...

and

groundwater contamination Groundwater pollution (also called groundwater contamination) occurs when pollutants are released to the ground and make their way into groundwater. This type of water pollution can also occur naturally due to the presence of a minor and unwante ...

Climate

York County has a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...

, characterized by hot, humid summers and cool, dry winters. Precipitation does not vary greatly between seasons. July is the hottest month, with an average high temperature of and an average low temperature of . The coldest month of the year is January, when the average high temperature is around 53 °F (12 °C) and the average low temperature bottoms out at 33 °F (1 °C). The warmest temperature ever recorded in York County was in Rock Hill, was 106 °F (42 °C), on August 21, 1983, and the coldest temperature ever recorded was also in Rock Hill at −6 °F (−21 °C), on January 21, 1985. Catawba River Rock Hill

Mountains

* Henry's Knob * Joe's Mountain * King's Mountain * Nanny Mountain

Major water bodies

* Broad River * Catawba River * Lake Wylie

National Protected areas

Kings Mountain National Military Park Kings Mountain National Military Park is a National Military Park near Blacksburg, South Carolina, along the North Carolina/South Carolina border. The park commemorates the Battle of Kings Mountain, a pivotal and significant victory by American Pa ...

(part) * Historic Brattonsville

State and local protected areas/sites

* Anne Springs Close Greenway - Adventure Road/Lake Haigler *

Brattonsville Historic District The Brattonsville Historic District is a historic district and unincorporated community in York County, South Carolina. It includes three homes built between 1776 and 1855 by the Brattons, a prominent family of York County. It was named to th ...

* Draper Wildlife Management Area * James Ross Wildlife Reservation * Kings Mountain State Park *

Museum of York County A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

Adjacent counties

A border county separating

and

, York County shares boundaries with the following counties in both states: * Gaston County, North Carolina – north * Mecklenburg County, North Carolina – northeast * Lancaster County – east *

Chester County Chester County may refer to: * Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States * Chester County, South Carolina, United States * Chester County, Tennessee, United States * Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West Eng ...

– south * Union County – southwest * Cherokee County – west *

Cleveland County, North Carolina Cleveland County is a County (United States), county located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains and the western Piedmont, on the southern border of the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, th ...

– northwest

Major highways

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Major infrastructure

* Rock Hill/York County Airport

Demographics

2020 census

As of the

2020 United States census The United States census of 2020 was the twenty-fourth decennial United States census. Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2020. Other than a pilot study during the 2000 census, this was the first U.S. census to off ...

, there were 282,090 people, 108,400 households, and 74,041 families residing in the county.

2010 census

As of the

2010 United States Census The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators serving ...

, there were 226,073 people, 85,864 households, and 61,089 families residing in the county. The population density was . There were 94,196 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 74.8% white, 19.0% black or African American, 1.5% Asian, 0.9% American Indian, 0.1% Pacific islander, 1.9% from other races, and 1.8% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 4.5% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 14.0% were German, 12.3% were Irish, 10.2% were English, 9.2% were American, and 6.0% were Scotch-Irish. Of the 85,864 households, 36.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.6% were married couples living together, 13.9% had a female householder with no husband present, 28.9% were non-families, and 23.5% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.59 and the average family size was 3.06. The median age was 37.2 years. The median income for a household in the county was $51,925 and the median income for a family was $65,188. Males had a median income of $47,017 versus $34,096 for females. The per capita income for the county was $25,707. About 9.4% of families and 12.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 17.5% of those under age 18 and 8.6% of those age 65 or over.

2000 census

As of the census of 2000, there were 164,614 people, 61,051 households, and 44,933 families residing in the county. The population density was 241 people per square mile (93/km²). There were 66,061 housing units at an average density of 97 per square mile (37/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 77.25%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...

, 19.16%

Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ha ...

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 0.85% Native American, 0.89% Asian, 0.02%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/ racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of O ...

, 0.93% from other races, and 0.91% from two or more races. 1.96% of the population were

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties for ...

or Latino of any race. 20.9% were of American, 8.8% Irish, 8.8% German, 8.8% English and 7.2% Scotch-Irish ancestry according to Census 2000. There were 61,051 households, out of which 35.40% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.10% were married couples living together, 13.30% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.40% were non-families. 21.30% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.90% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.63 and the average family size was 3.05. In the county, the population was spread out, with 26.30% under the age of 18, 9.50% from 18 to 24, 31.10% from 25 to 44, 22.80% from 45 to 64, and 10.40% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 94.00 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.20 males. The median income for a household in the county was $44,539, and the median income for a family was $51,815. Males had a median income of $36,713 versus $24,857 for females. The per capita income for the county was $20,536. About 7.30% of families and 10.00% of the population were below the poverty line, including 12.10% of those under age 18 and 9.60% of those age 65 or over.

Law and government

Law enforcement

In 2014, a York County Sheriff's deputy shot an unarmed 70-year-old man after the deputy mistook his cane for a rifle. The deputy was found to have acted appropriately.

Politics

In 2020 Joe Biden received 41.0 percent of the vote. This was the best result for a Democrat since 1980 when

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...

received 50.2 percent of the vote and won York County.

Education

York County has four public school districts. District One serves central and western York County, including the town of York; District Two serves northern York County and the town of Clover; District Three serves the City of Rock Hill and southern York County; District Four serves eastern York County and the town of Fort Mill. York County is the home of York Technical College, Clinton College, and Winthrop University, all located in Rock Hill.

Communities

Cities

* Rock Hill (largest city) * Tega Cay *

(county seat)

Towns

* Hickory Grove * McConnells * Sharon *

Smyrna Smyrna ( ; grc, Σμύρνη, Smýrnē, or , ) was a Greek city located at a strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Due to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence, and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to prom ...

(partly in Cherokee County)

Census-designated places

* Baxter Village * Catawba * India Hook (mostly annexed into the city of Rock Hill) * Lake Wylie * Lesslie * Newport (mostly annexed into the city of Rock Hill) * Riverview

Other unincorporated communities

Bethany Bethany ( grc-gre, Βηθανία,Murphy-O'Connor, 2008, p152/ref> Syriac: ܒܝܬ ܥܢܝܐ ''Bēṯ ʿAnyā'') or what is locally known as Al-Eizariya or al-Azariya ( ar, العيزرية, " laceof Lazarus"), is a Palestinian town in the West ...

Bethel Bethel ( he, בֵּית אֵל, translit=Bēṯ 'Ēl, "House of El" or "House of God",Bleeker and Widegren, 1988, p. 257. also transliterated ''Beth El'', ''Beth-El'', ''Beit El''; el, Βαιθήλ; la, Bethel) was an ancient Israelite sanc ...

* Blairsville *

Bowling Green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep ...

* Bullock Creek * Filbert * Holy Islamville * Hopewell * Ogden * Red River * Smith * Tirzah

Former places

Balloon A balloon is a flexible bag that can be inflated with a gas, such as helium, hydrogen, nitrous oxide, oxygen, and air. For special tasks, balloons can be filled with smoke, liquid water, granular media (e.g. sand, flour or rice), or lig ...

, former community * Ebenezer, former town * Oakdale, former community

Notes

External links

York County Government

York County Regional Chamber of Commerce
* {{authority control 1785 establishments in South Carolina Populated places established in 1785 Charlotte metropolitan area