A’S Hardeeville’s transformation reads like an economic development textbook case study. In a region where residents once depended on minimum-wage hospitality jobs requiring hour-long commutes to Hilton Head resorts, the city has engineered one of the most dramatic municipal turnarounds in the modern South. The city’s population has exploded from 7,000 to 20,000 residents in just five years, earning it the distinction of South Carolina’s fastest-growing municipality with an 85% growth rate since 2020. Located in Jasper County, which has become America’s fastest-growing county, this linear city stretching 20 miles along the I-95 corridor has transformed from a highway rest stop into an economic powerhouse that now ranks second statewide for job creation over the past decade. The city’s median household income has surged 174% since 2000 to reach $78,233, while property values exploded 680% from $69,100 to $538,998. “We in the city of Hardeeville are very proud of the fact that we have grown so significantly 224 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 06, ISSUE 09
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