DILLON, S.C. – Dillon County is the only county within the six-county Pee Dee region to exceed the level of GDP growth statewide.
According to a report issued by the Bureau of Economic Analysis that calculates GDP by county across the United States, Dillon’s GDP rose by 10.33% from 2015-2018. In 2015, Dillon County had a GDP of $689 million. By 2018, that figure had risen to $760 million.
Statewide, the growth of GDP has been 9.11% from 2015-2018. South Carolina’s GDP has risen from $189.9 billion to $207.2 billion.
GDP, gross domestic product, is a calculation of all economic activity in an area during a specific period of time. In this case, GDP is calculated for a county for one year.
Dillon is the 17th ranked county in the state in terms of GDP growth from 2015-2018.
Lancaster County is the leader in GDP growth, having risen by 39.74% from $2.51 billion in 2015 to $3.502 billion in 2018. Newberry (16.76%), Allendale (16.61%), Cherokee (16.51) and Lee (16.41%) round out the top five.
In the Pee Dee, Florence County’s GDP rose 7.9% from $6.253 billion in 2015 to $6.747 billion in 2018. This makes Florence the 21st fasting-growing county in the state.
Marion County’s GDP rose by 5.23% from 2015-2018, increasing from $500 million to $527 million. It is the 29th fastest-growing county in the state.
Williamsburg (4.42% and $699 million to $729 million) and Marlboro (3.65% and $694 million to $720 million) are the 34th and 37th fastest growth counties.
Darlington was one of three counties to experience a decrease in GDP from 2015-2018. Darlington decreased from $2.276 billion to $2.273 billion, a decrease of 0.164%.
The other two counties to experience decreases were Georgetown (-1.598%) and Fairfield (-21.098%).
In terms of overall size, Florence County ($6.747 billion) has the largest GDP in the Pee Dee and is ranked 9th statewide. Darlington (2.273 billion) comes in at 21st, Dillon ($760 million) at 31st, Williamsburg ($730 million) at 33rd, Marlboro ($720 billion) at 34th and Marion ($527 million) at 40th.
The top five are Charleston ($27.581 billion), Greenville ($27.449 billion), Richland ($23.33 billion), Spartanburg ($13.481 billion) and Horry ($11.206 billion).
McCormick has the smallest county GDP at $190 million.