53033 FipsDecoder
45079 County FIPS Code

Richland County

South Carolina · County seat: Columbia · Active county or equivalent

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FIPS code 45079 is Richland County, South Carolina. With a population of 416,161 (2022 ACS estimate), it ranks #2 in South Carolina and #169 nationally. Richland County is part of the Columbia, 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

45079

State FIPS

45

SC

Population

416,161

2022 ACS · #169 nationally

Density

549.7/mi²

people per sq mile

Land Area

757

sq miles

Urban/Rural

Metro — 250K–1M population

RUCC 2

How This FIPS Code Works

45 079
45 = State FIPS (South Carolina)
079 = County FIPS

The 5-digit FIPS code 45079 is formed by combining the 2-digit state identifier 45 (South Carolina) with the 3-digit county identifier 079. Together they uniquely identify Richland County in every US federal dataset. No two counties share the same 5-digit FIPS code.

Census ACS Data for FIPS 45079

From the 2022 ACS 5-year estimates — the same values you'd retrieve by querying the Census API with county FIPS 45079.

Median Household Income

$59,850

ACS B19013_001E

Poverty Rate

16.8%

ACS B17001 (below poverty level)

Median Age

33.9

ACS B01002_001E

Metropolitan Area

Adjacent Counties (6)

Counties that share a border with Richland County. Useful for regional analysis — these are the geographies you'd typically include when studying labor markets, commuting zones, or environmental spillovers around FIPS 45079.

Federal Datasets Using Code 45079

FIPS code 45079 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 45079 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.

Census ACS API — Python 45079
import requests

url = "https://api.census.gov/data/2022/acs/acs5"
params = {
    "get":  "NAME,B19013_001E,B01003_001E",
    "for":  "county:079",
    "in":   "state:45",
    "key":  "YOUR_CENSUS_API_KEY",
}
r = requests.get(url, params=params)
data = r.json()  # [[header...], [Richland County, South Carolina, income, pop, ...]
SQL — filtering by county FIPS 45079
-- 5-digit combined FIPS (state + county)
SELECT * FROM your_table WHERE county_fips = '45079';

-- Some datasets store state and county separately
SELECT * FROM your_table
WHERE state_fips = '45'
  AND county_fips = '079';

-- ⚠ Never cast to integer — leading zeros are lost:
-- county_fips = 45079 is WRONG for this county
R — tidycensus 45079
library(tidycensus)

get_acs(
  geography = "county",
  variables = c(income = "B19013_001E", pop = "B01003_001E"),
  state     = "45",
  county    = "079",
  year      = 2022
)
Zero-padding reminder: FIPS codes must always be stored and compared as zero-padded strings. 45 (not 45) and 079 (not 79) — losing the leading zeros is one of the most common data-join bugs in federal datasets. Full guide →

ZIP Codes in Richland 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 Richland County. Why FIPS ≠ ZIP →

ZIP Code % in county
29229 100.0%
29201 100.0%
29203 100.0%
29204 100.0%
29205 100.0%
29206 100.0%
29207 100.0%
29208 100.0%
29209 100.0%
29223 100.0%
29225 100.0%
29044 100.0%
29052 100.0%
29061 100.0%
29177 100.0%
29063 97.0%
29016 90.4%
29210 69.7%
29045 33.3%
29212 30.8%
29036 27.8%
29075 26.6%
29078 11.5%
29180 4.4%
29130 1.2%

Other Counties in South Carolina