Cherokee County
South Carolina · County seat: Gaffney · Active county or equivalent
FIPS code 45021 is Cherokee County, South Carolina. With a population of 56,200 (2022 ACS estimate), it ranks #24 in South Carolina and #922 nationally. Cherokee County is part of the Gaffney, SC. The state FIPS code for South Carolina is 45. This code is used in Census Bureau, BLS, EPA, HUD, and USDA federal datasets to identify this county.
County FIPS
45021
Population
56,200
2022 ACS · #922 nationally
Density
143.1/mi²
people per sq mile
Land Area
393
sq miles
Urban/Rural
Nonmetro — urban 2.5K–19.9K, adjacent to metro
RUCC 6
How This FIPS Code Works
The 5-digit FIPS code 45021 is formed by combining the 2-digit state identifier 45 (South Carolina) with the 3-digit county identifier 021. Together they uniquely identify Cherokee County in every US federal dataset. No two counties share the same 5-digit FIPS code.
Census ACS Data for FIPS 45021
From the 2022 ACS 5-year estimates — the same values you'd retrieve by querying the Census API with county FIPS 45021.
Median Household Income
$47,011
ACS B19013_001E
Poverty Rate
18.0%
ACS B17001 (below poverty level)
Median Age
40.0
ACS B01002_001E
Metropolitan Area
Adjacent Counties (5)
Counties that share a border with Cherokee County. Useful for regional analysis — these are the geographies you'd typically include when studying labor markets, commuting zones, or environmental spillovers around FIPS 45021.
Federal Datasets Using Code 45021
FIPS code 45021 appears as the county identifier in the following federal datasets. Analysts joining data across these sources use this code as the common geographic key.
Using FIPS Code 45021 in Code
Common patterns for querying federal datasets by this county's FIPS code. The leading zeros are significant — always treat FIPS codes as strings, not integers.
import requests
url = "https://api.census.gov/data/2022/acs/acs5"
params = {
"get": "NAME,B19013_001E,B01003_001E",
"for": "county:021",
"in": "state:45",
"key": "YOUR_CENSUS_API_KEY",
}
r = requests.get(url, params=params)
data = r.json() # [[header...], [Cherokee County, South Carolina, income, pop, ...]
-- 5-digit combined FIPS (state + county)
SELECT * FROM your_table WHERE county_fips = '45021';
-- Some datasets store state and county separately
SELECT * FROM your_table
WHERE state_fips = '45'
AND county_fips = '021';
-- ⚠ Never cast to integer — leading zeros are lost:
-- county_fips = 45021 is WRONG for this county
library(tidycensus)
get_acs(
geography = "county",
variables = c(income = "B19013_001E", pop = "B01003_001E"),
state = "45",
county = "021",
year = 2022
)
ZIP Codes in Cherokee County
ZIP codes do not align perfectly with county boundaries — a single ZIP code can span multiple counties, and a county can contain parts of many ZIP codes. The ratios below (from the Census 2020 ZCTA relationship file) show the land area share of each ZCTA that falls within Cherokee County. Why FIPS ≠ ZIP →
| ZIP Code | % in county |
|---|---|
| 29340 | 100.0% |
| 29341 | 100.0% |
| 29702 | 85.5% |
| 29330 | 52.4% |
| 29372 | 42.3% |
| 29743 | 15.5% |
| 29323 | 13.1% |
| 29307 | 10.8% |