Renting in Elloree? Here's What You Need to Know Before You Sign

Elloree Rental Market Overview

Elloree is a 1.02-square-mile town in Orangeburg County, in South Carolina's Santee Cooper lake-country region. As of September 2026, this guide's research could not identify a single named apartment or multi-family rental community operating inside town limits -- City-Data.com's housing and economic profile for the town, the primary source checked, surfaced none. A 2024 Census American Community Survey estimate, as presented by City-Data.com, puts Elloree's town-wide median gross rent at $836 a month -- a statistical model built from the town's existing housing stock rather than a published asking rent from any specific landlord or property.

Common Lease Terms in Elloree

With no identified apartment community or leasing office to source a specific lease from, what follows is pieced together from housing-stock data, county-level benchmarks, and a direct jurisdiction check rather than a single property's own paperwork:

• City-Data.com's 2024 ACS-based estimate puts Elloree's median household income at $39,871 -- roughly 55% of South Carolina's statewide figure of about $72,350 -- alongside a 26.4% poverty rate
• South Carolina's Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (S.C. Code Title 27, Chapter 40) supplies the default lease terms -- notice periods, entry rules, deposit handling -- for any Elloree tenancy where the lease itself is silent
• Checked against the Census Bureau's public geocoder, Elloree Town Hall (2719 W Cleveland Street) resolves cleanly inside the incorporated Town of Elloree -- confirmed, not just assumed
• City-Data.com's 2024 estimate puts the town's median house value at $199,482 and the median resident age at 62.6 years -- notably older than South Carolina's statewide median age of 40.7, consistent with a market where fewer households may be renting rather than owning outright

Local Tenant Protections

South Carolina law provides the baseline for tenant rights, but Elloree may have additional local ordinances that affect your lease.

• South Carolina law preempts local rent control statewide (S.C. Code §27-39-60) -- no South Carolina city or county, including Elloree, may enact an ordinance regulating the rent charged on privately owned residential property
• Elloree's own website confirms a real, enforced business-license requirement -- any business operating within the town's corporate limits is required to hold a town business license, renewed annually on an April 1 to March 31 cycle, applied for directly at Town Hall -- a more complete administrative framework than several comparably sized South Carolina towns this guide has covered, though no searchable zoning ordinance or zoning map could be located on Municode as of September 2026
• Checked against the Census Bureau's public geocoder, Elloree Town Hall (2719 W Cleveland Street) resolves cleanly to "Elloree town"
• A second checked address, the Elloree Trials horse-racing and training grounds (170 Wishbone Circle), returned a valid address match but no Incorporated Places result at all -- the geocoder instead places it only in "Elloree CCD," a broad Census statistical area, meaning the grounds sit on unincorporated Orangeburg County land rather than inside the Town of Elloree itself. That is a real cross-boundary mismatch, not simply a data-coverage gap, and a reminder that a specific "Elloree, SC" rental address is worth checking individually rather than assumed either way

For full South Carolina statewide tenant rights, see our South Carolina tenant rights guide.

Mandatory Fees at Elloree Rentals

No fee schedule could be independently confirmed for an Elloree rental, since this guide could not identify any leasing office or managed rental community operating inside town, as of September 2026.

• City-Data.com's housing profile returned no property-level data for Elloree, so it publishes no application fee, pet fee, or deposit amount for any specific property in town
• The town's confirmed business-license requirement applies to businesses operating in Elloree, not to residential rental registration specifically -- no separate rental-registration ordinance or fee schedule could be located
• South Carolina law sets no statutory cap on application fees, pet fees, or administrative fees -- whatever a specific lease states is what governs

A town with no identified rental community isn't automatically a red flag -- but it does mean every fee, deposit amount, and lease term is worth confirming directly with the landlord, in writing, before signing anything.

A 26-Year Population Decline, a Racetrack Outside Town Limits, and an Aging Resident Base

The U.S. Census Bureau's decennial counts show Elloree declining in every count available: 742 residents in 2000, down to 692 by 2010 (-6.7%) and 570 by 2020 (-17.6%) -- a cumulative 23.2% loss over two decades. A 2024 current-year estimate, as presented by City-Data.com, puts the population at 548, continuing the same trend and bringing the cumulative loss since 2000 to roughly 26.1%. Elloree's median resident age of 62.6 years runs sharply older than South Carolina's statewide 40.7 -- a notably older population than most small South Carolina towns this guide has covered, consistent with a town that is losing younger working-age residents faster than its overall population count alone suggests.

Elloree's best-known association by a wide margin is the Elloree Trials, a real, long-running annual Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse race-training event held at the Elloree Training Center -- the source of champion jockey Chris Antley's own ties to the area, per Wikipedia. This guide independently confirmed, via the U.S. Census Bureau's public geocoder, that the training grounds (170 Wishbone Circle) sit on unincorporated Orangeburg County land rather than inside the incorporated Town of Elloree itself -- the geocoder returned a clean address match but no Incorporated Places result at all, placing the property only within "Elloree CCD," a broad Census statistical area that shares the town's name but extends well beyond its actual 1.02-square-mile boundary. Elloree Town Hall (2719 W Cleveland Street), by contrast, resolved cleanly inside the incorporated town -- a real, documented split between the two addresses this guide checked, not a uniform result either way. Trinity Lutheran Church, added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2008, is Elloree's other notable landmark, per Wikipedia.

Economically, City-Data.com's 2024 ACS-based estimates show health care and social assistance as Elloree's largest employment sector at 21.3% of employed residents, followed by educational services (10.5%) and public administration (9.0%) -- a sector mix oriented toward institutional and service employment rather than the manufacturing concentration this guide has found in several other small Orangeburg County-area towns. Median household income runs $39,871, roughly 55% of South Carolina's statewide figure of about $72,350, with a 26.4% poverty rate and an April 2026 unemployment rate of 5.0%, above the state's 3.6% average. Elloree does carry one real piece of administrative infrastructure more complete than several comparably sized South Carolina towns this guide has covered: a genuine, currently enforced town business-license requirement, confirmed directly on the town's own website, applying to any business operating within its corporate limits on an annual April-to-March cycle.

Common Issues Renters Face in Elloree

These are the most frequent lease-related considerations identified for Elloree, based on the research for this guide:

• No apartment or multi-family rental community could be confirmed operating inside Elloree from the sources this guide checked, so a prospective renter should not assume the town has no options at all -- only that none could be independently verified
• Elloree's population has declined in every Census count since 2000, alongside a median age (62.6) notably older than South Carolina's statewide figure -- worth knowing when evaluating how much active rental demand, and how much landlord flexibility on terms, a specific property might carry
• Elloree's median household income ($39,871) and poverty rate (26.4%) both point to a lower-income rental market, worth factoring into any affordability assessment of a specific unit's rent and fees
• One of the two addresses this guide checked against the Census Bureau's geocoder (the Elloree Trials training grounds) resolved outside the incorporated town despite carrying an "Elloree, SC" address, while the other (Town Hall) resolved cleanly inside -- a concrete reminder that a specific address is worth checking individually rather than assumed either way

Negotiating Your Lease in Elloree

South Carolina is landlord-favorable with minimal statutory protections, and Elloree's rental market has no identified apartment community or leasing office to benchmark a specific offer against.

• A full written lease, rather than a verbal or partial agreement, is especially worth requesting in a market like Elloree's, where the counterparty is more likely an individual property owner than a company with a standard template already in place
• Comparing a specific quote against nearby Santee, Bowman, or the Orangeburg County seat, all covered elsewhere on this site, can help gauge whether an Elloree rent or fee fits regional norms
• Confirming a specific address's actual jurisdiction using the Census Bureau's free public geocoder is worth doing for any Elloree-area property, given that this guide's own check found a real split -- one address confirmed inside town, another confirmed outside it

A market with no identified rental community isn't automatically a red flag -- but with no comparison listing to check a quote against, confirming every fee, deposit amount, and lease term directly with the landlord, in writing, matters more here than in a market with visible competition.