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

Plum Branch Rental Market Overview

Plum Branch is a 0.36-square-mile town in McCormick County, South Carolina, roughly 2 miles from the county seat of McCormick and a few miles from Troy and Modoc. As of October 2026, this guide's research could not identify a single named apartment or multi-family rental community operating inside town limits, nor any national retail tenant, restaurant, or other commercial business of any kind. No published rent figure exists at the town level or even at the ZIP-code level (29845). A 2024 American Community Survey estimate puts median household income data in a form this guide could not independently verify as reliable for a town this size; the most recent town-level figure this guide could confirm against a primary source is the 2000 Census's median household income of $24,583.

Common Lease Terms in Plum Branch

With no identified apartment community, leasing office, or commercial business to source a specific lease from, what follows is pieced together from county context, a direct jurisdiction check, and the town's own demographic record rather than a single property's own paperwork:

• The 2000 Census put Plum Branch's median household income at $24,583 and median age at 43 -- the most recent reliable town-level figures this guide could confirm against a primary source, since a 2024 ACS estimate for the town could not be independently verified as reliable
• 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 Plum Branch tenancy where the lease itself is silent
• Checked against the Census Bureau's public geocoder, the Plum Branch Volunteer Fire Department resolves cleanly inside town limits, while Plum Branch Baptist Church -- carrying an identical mailing address a few hundred feet away -- resolves instead to the neighboring Town of Parksville, a reminder that a shared mailing address does not confirm which town's rules actually apply to a specific parcel
• Plum Branch's population has declined in most Census counts since a 1910 count of 145, interrupted by a rise to 101 residents in 1990 before resuming its decline, with the 2010-2020 decade (-12.2%) continuing that longer pattern

Local Tenant Protections

South Carolina law provides the baseline for tenant rights, but Plum Branch 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 Plum Branch, may enact an ordinance regulating the rent charged on privately owned residential property
• This guide could not confirm whether Plum Branch has its own zoning ordinance or business-license ordinance; no Plum Branch-specific municipal code or working town government website could be found published online, and no Town Hall address could be located to confirm directly
• Checked against the Census Bureau's public geocoder, the Plum Branch Volunteer Fire Department (112 North Depot Street) resolves cleanly inside the Town of Plum Branch, but Plum Branch Baptist Church (112 Church Street) -- carrying an identical Plum Branch, SC 29845 mailing address -- resolves instead to the neighboring Town of Parksville, a genuine split between two separately incorporated towns rather than a mismatch with unincorporated land
• Plum Branch's population has fallen from 145 residents in 1910 to 72 by the 2020 Census, with a brief rise to 101 in 1990 before the decline resumed; the 2010-2020 decade alone accounts for a 12.2% drop (82 to 72)

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

Mandatory Fees at Plum Branch Rentals

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

• No rent, application-fee, pet-fee, or deposit figure has ever been published for Plum Branch at the town level, and no ZIP-level (29845) figure could be located either
• Whether Plum Branch 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 working 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 or commercial presence 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 Non-Monotonic Decline and a Split Jurisdiction With Neighboring Parksville

The U.S. Census Bureau's historical series shows Plum Branch at 145 residents in 1910, falling to a low of 73 by 1980, then rising to 101 by 1990 -- a genuine, if temporary, reversal that distinguishes Plum Branch from most sibling small South Carolina towns in this guide's coverage, which more often show a single, steady decline. The recovery didn't hold: the town fell back to 98 by 2000, 82 by 2010, and 72 by the 2020 Census, a 12.2% drop in that most recent decade. No single documented cause was identified for either the 1980s rebound or the recent decline, and no confirmed history of the town's own founding or naming could be located in this guide's research. A 2024 American Community Survey estimate puts the population back up near 82, but ACS estimates for a town this size carry a wide margin of error and shouldn't be read as a confirmed reversal of the 2020 Census count.

Plum Branch sits in McCormick County, South Carolina's last county created (1916) and its second-least-populous, which shares Clarks Hill Lake -- renamed J. Strom Thurmond Lake in 1987 and marketed regionally as the "Freshwater Coast" -- with its county-seat neighbor McCormick and with Parksville, a smaller sibling town already covered elsewhere on this site. The presence of a North Depot Street running through Plum Branch is consistent with the town having been a former railroad stop, though this guide could not locate a confirmed history to that effect. This guide's own jurisdiction check, using the Census Bureau's free public geocoder, found a genuine split: the Plum Branch Volunteer Fire Department (112 North Depot Street) resolves cleanly inside the Town of Plum Branch's own incorporated limits, while Plum Branch Baptist Church (112 Church Street) -- carrying an identical Plum Branch, SC 29845 mailing address and sitting less than a quarter-mile away -- resolves instead to the neighboring Town of Parksville. That's a sharper finding than the more common pattern found elsewhere in this guide's coverage, where a mailing address simply sits on unincorporated county land rather than inside a different incorporated town entirely.

A naming check turned up essentially no collision risk, a genuine exception among the small South Carolina towns covered in this guide: Wikipedia's own disambiguation page for "Plum Branch" lists only four small streams in Missouri sharing the name, with no other populated place anywhere in the United States called Plum Branch. McCormick, Parksville, and Troy -- all in or adjacent to McCormick County -- are already covered elsewhere on this site; Plum Branch is a small addition to that same county's coverage.

Common Issues Renters Face in Plum Branch

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

• No apartment, multi-family rental community, or commercial business of any kind could be confirmed operating inside Plum Branch from the sources this guide checked, so a prospective renter should not assume the town has no housing options at all -- only that none could be independently verified
• No rent figure exists at the town or ZIP level, so a renter has nothing published to compare a specific offer against and would need to rely on direct comparisons with individual landlords or nearby towns such as McCormick or Parksville
• A Plum Branch, SC mailing address does not reliably confirm which town's zoning or business-license rules apply -- this guide's own check found one address resolving to Plum Branch and another, a few hundred feet away, resolving instead to the Town of Parksville
• Whether Plum Branch 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 McCormick County rather than assume the answer from a comparable town

Negotiating Your Lease in Plum Branch

South Carolina is landlord-favorable with minimal statutory protections, and Plum Branch's rental market has no identified apartment community, leasing office, or commercial business of any kind 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 Plum Branch's, where the counterparty is overwhelmingly likely to be an individual property owner rather than a company with a standard template already in place
• Comparing a specific quote against nearby McCormick, Parksville, Troy, or Edgefield, all covered elsewhere on this site and all within or adjacent to McCormick County, can help gauge whether a Plum Branch 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 Plum Branch-area property -- this guide's own check found one tested address resolving to Plum Branch and a second, carrying an identical mailing address, resolving instead to neighboring Parksville

A market with no identified rental community or commercial anchor isn't automatically a red flag -- but with no comparison listing to check a quote against, and a confirmed jurisdiction split within the town's own mailing boundary, confirming every fee, deposit amount, lease term, and governing town directly with the landlord, in writing, matters more here than in a market with visible competition.