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

Kline Rental Market Overview

Kline is a small town in Barnwell County, South Carolina, on U.S. Route 278 roughly 8 miles south of the county seat of Barnwell and 8 miles north of Allendale. As of October 2026, this guide's research could not identify a single named apartment or multi-family rental community operating inside town limits, but City-Data.com's 2024 Census American Community Survey estimate does publish a town-wide median gross rent figure of $1,123. The town's own 2024 median household income figure renders as a corrupted, unusable value in City-Data's published dataset -- a data-quality problem this guide has found on a handful of other very small South Carolina towns -- so no income comparison against the statewide figure is made here.

Common Lease Terms in Kline

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

• City-Data.com's 2024 ACS-based estimate puts Kline's poverty rate at 16.2% and its median house value at $121,072 -- well below South Carolina's statewide median house value of $299,500
• 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 Kline tenancy where the lease itself is silent
• Checked against the Census Bureau's public geocoder, both Kline Baptist Church (Prince Avenue) and the town's own geographic center resolve cleanly inside the incorporated Town of Kline -- a clean jurisdiction result, though only two points were tested, not every parcel in town
• City-Data.com's 2024 estimate puts the town's median resident age at 36.2 years, below South Carolina's statewide median age of 40.7 -- a younger profile than several other small, declining South Carolina towns this guide has covered

Local Tenant Protections

South Carolina law provides the baseline for tenant rights, but Kline 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 Kline, may enact an ordinance regulating the rent charged on privately owned residential property
• This guide could not confirm whether Kline has its own zoning ordinance or business-license ordinance; no Kline-specific municipal code or independent town website could be found published online -- a prospective tenant or small business should confirm directly with Barnwell County or the town's own officials rather than assume either way
• Checked against the Census Bureau's public geocoder, both Kline Baptist Church and the town's own geographic center resolve cleanly to "Kline town" -- a genuinely clean jurisdiction result on the two points tested
• Kline's population has declined in every Census count since at least 2000, with a 2024 current-year estimate (142) showing no sign of the decline reversing -- a steeper, more sustained drop than several comparably sized South Carolina towns this guide has documented

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

Mandatory Fees at Kline Rentals

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

• City-Data.com's housing profile publishes a town-wide median gross rent ($1,123) but no property-level application fee, pet fee, or deposit amount for any specific Kline property
• Whether Kline has its own zoning or business-license ordinance reaching a residential-rental registration rule could not be confirmed either way -- no town-specific ordinance or independent town website could be found published online, but that is not conclusive on its own
• 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 Barnwell County Crossroads Still Shrinking After Two Decades of Decline

The U.S. Census Bureau's decennial counts show Kline declining without pause for at least the past quarter-century: 238 residents in 2000, 197 in 2010, and 148 in 2020 -- a 37.8% cumulative drop, including a 24.9% decline in the 2010s alone. City-Data.com's 2024 current-year estimate puts the town at 142, a further small decline rather than any leveling-off. The town sits on roughly 3.1 square miles in southern Barnwell County, with U.S. Route 278 running through its center, about 8 miles south of the county seat of Barnwell and 8 miles north of Allendale.

This guide's research did not identify a festival, major employer, or widely known attraction associated with Kline. The town's own fixtures are modest and local: Kline Baptist Church and Union Church, both on Prince Avenue, and the town's own volunteer fire department. City-Data.com's 2024 ACS-based employment-sector breakdown shows retail trade (35.4%) as the town's largest reported current employment sector, followed by health care and social assistance (17.7%) and manufacturing (11.8%) -- a profile this guide could not reconcile with the town's own visible footprint, since no retail business of any kind could be identified operating inside Kline itself from the sources checked. That mismatch most likely reflects residents commuting to jobs in Barnwell, Allendale, or Denmark rather than a retail sector located in Kline, though that could not be confirmed directly.

A jurisdiction check against the Census Bureau's public geocoder came back clean on both points tested: Kline Baptist Church (Prince Avenue) and the town's own geographic center both resolve inside the incorporated Town of Kline, with no mailing-address-outside-the-boundary surprise of the kind this guide has found on several sibling small South Carolina towns. One genuine data-quality finding is worth flagging instead: City-Data.com's published 2024 median household income figure for Kline renders as an obviously corrupted, unusable value -- the same kind of source-data error this guide has documented on a handful of other very small South Carolina towns -- so no income figure is cited here. "Kline" is also a well-known American surname (actor Kevin Kline among others), worth noting since a general web search for the bare word "Kline" is unlikely to surface this small town at all.

Common Issues Renters Face in Kline

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

• No apartment or multi-family rental community could be confirmed operating inside Kline 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
• Whether Kline has a zoning or business-license ordinance reaching residential rentals could not be confirmed either way -- a renter running a home-based business should check directly with Barnwell County or the town's own officials rather than assume the answer from a comparable town
• City-Data's own reported employment mix (led by retail trade) doesn't match any retail business this guide could identify inside town, which likely means most working residents commute elsewhere -- worth being aware of rather than assuming local jobs explain local rental demand
• Kline's population has declined in every Census count since at least 2000, with no sign of reversal as of the 2024 estimate -- a prospective renter should not assume rental demand or competition resembles a growing nearby market

Negotiating Your Lease in Kline

South Carolina is landlord-favorable with minimal statutory protections, and Kline'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 Kline'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 Barnwell, Allendale, or Williston, all covered elsewhere on this site and all within a short drive, can help gauge whether a Kline 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 Kline-area property -- this guide's own check found a clean result on both points tested, but that reflects only two points, not the whole town

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.