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

Mayesville Rental Market Overview

Mayesville is a 1.02-square-mile town in Sumter County, in the rural tobacco-and-cotton belt of South Carolina's Pee Dee / Midlands border 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 Mayesville's town-wide median gross rent at $846 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 Mayesville

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 Mayesville's median household income at $50,685 -- roughly 70% of South Carolina's statewide figure of about $72,350 -- alongside a 29.9% 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 Mayesville tenancy where the lease itself is silent
• Checked against the Census Bureau's public geocoder, Mayesville Town Hall (23 S Main Street) resolves cleanly inside the incorporated Town of Mayesville -- confirmed, not just assumed
• City-Data.com's 2024 estimate puts the town's median house value at $97,451 and the median resident age at 36.1 years -- notably younger than South Carolina's statewide median age of 40.7, a different pattern than several comparably declining South Carolina towns this guide has covered, where an aging population more often accompanies long-term decline

Local Tenant Protections

South Carolina law provides the baseline for tenant rights, but Mayesville 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 Mayesville, may enact an ordinance regulating the rent charged on privately owned residential property
• The National Zoning Atlas, a Cornell-affiliated research project cataloging zoning status for municipalities nationwide, lists Mayesville as having no zoning ordinance in place -- no readable Mayesville-specific code of ordinances could be located on Municode as of September 2026, and the town's own government listing names its mayor and council but no business-license schedule
• Checked against the Census Bureau's public geocoder, Mayesville Town Hall (23 S Main Street) resolves cleanly to "Mayesville town"
• A second checked address, the preserved Mary McLeod Bethune birthplace memorial site on Mary McLeod Bethune Road, returned no match at all in the geocoder -- a data-coverage gap for that rural road segment, not a resolved cross-boundary result either way -- while outside sources disagree on whether the site itself sits in Sumter County (Mayesville's own county) or neighboring Lee County, consistent with the town's position near that county line

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

Mandatory Fees at Mayesville Rentals

No fee schedule could be independently confirmed for a Mayesville 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 Mayesville, so it publishes no application fee, pet fee, or deposit amount for any specific property in town
• No business-license ordinance or fee schedule could be located for the town, and the National Zoning Atlas lists Mayesville as having no zoning code -- meaning no separate rental-registration requirement could be confirmed either
• 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 Steep Decline That Has Leveled Off, and an Unresolved County Line at the Birthplace of Mary McLeod Bethune

The U.S. Census Bureau's decennial counts show Mayesville losing population sharply in the first two decades of this century: 1,001 residents in 2000, down to 731 by 2010 (-27.0%) and 548 by 2020 (-25.0%) -- a cumulative 45.3% loss, among the steepest declines this guide has found for a comparably sized South Carolina town. A 2024 current-year estimate, as presented by City-Data.com, puts the population at 550 -- essentially flat since the 2020 count, a real break from the pattern of continuing decline this guide has documented in several neighboring small towns. Mayesville's median resident age of 36.1 years also runs younger than South Carolina's statewide 40.7, a different demographic profile than the comparably declining, markedly older towns this guide has covered elsewhere in the state.

Mayesville's best-known association by a wide margin is Mary McLeod Bethune, the educator and civil rights leader, who sources agree was born nearby but describe with slightly different geography. Wikipedia's biography states she was born in a log cabin on a rice and cotton farm in Sumter County -- the county containing the Town of Mayesville itself -- while the Historical Marker Database's own entry for the preserved birthplace memorial describes its location as near Mayesville but in neighboring Lee County. This guide's attempt to resolve the question directly, via the U.S. Census Bureau's public geocoder, returned no match at all for the memorial's listed rural address (1175 Mary McLeod Bethune Road) -- a data-coverage gap rather than a confirmed answer either way. Mayesville sits close to the Sumter-Lee county line, which is consistent with either description being accurate depending on exactly where the historic farm and the present-day 9-acre memorial park, maintained by the National Council of Negro Women's Lee County Section, actually sit relative to that line. Mayesville Town Hall (23 S Main Street), by contrast, resolved cleanly inside the incorporated town on the same check. The town's other notable residents include author James McBride Dabbs, former NFL defensive tackle Archie Reese, and minister and politician McKinley Washington Jr.; the Mayesville Historic District and the Goodwill Parochial School are both listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Economically, City-Data.com's 2024 ACS-based estimates show manufacturing as Mayesville's largest employment sector at 24.5% of employed residents, followed by retail trade and health care and social assistance (17.8% each) and administrative and support services (14.5%) -- a sector mix oriented toward production and service employment rather than the agricultural base the town's 19th- and 20th-century history as a cotton-and-tobacco processing hub might suggest. Median household income runs $50,685, roughly 70% of South Carolina's statewide figure of about $72,350, with a 29.9% poverty rate and an April 2026 unemployment rate of 4.7%, above the state's 3.6% average. The National Zoning Atlas lists Mayesville as a town with no zoning ordinance in place -- no business-license requirement or fee schedule could be located for the town either, a less complete piece of administrative infrastructure than several comparably sized South Carolina towns this guide has covered.

Common Issues Renters Face in Mayesville

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

• No apartment or multi-family rental community could be confirmed operating inside Mayesville 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
• Mayesville's population fell by nearly half between 2000 and 2020, though a 2024 current-year estimate suggests the decline has stopped rather than continued -- worth knowing when evaluating how much active rental demand, and how much landlord flexibility on terms, a specific property might carry
• Mayesville's median household income ($50,685) and poverty rate (29.9%) both point to a lower-income rental market, worth factoring into any affordability assessment of a specific unit's rent and fees
• No zoning ordinance or business-license schedule could be located for the town, so a prospective tenant can't check a landlord's permitted-use or licensing claim against any published code -- a question worth raising directly with Town Hall rather than assumed either way

Negotiating Your Lease in Mayesville

South Carolina is landlord-favorable with minimal statutory protections, and Mayesville'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 Mayesville'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 Sumter, Bishopville, or Manning, all covered elsewhere on this site, can help gauge whether a Mayesville 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 Mayesville-area property, particularly one near the Sumter-Lee county line, given that this guide's own check of the town's best-known landmark could not be resolved either way

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.