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

Varnville Rental Market Overview

Varnville's population fell from 2,074 at the 2000 census to 2,162 in 2010, then dropped to 1,669 in 2020 -- a 22.8% decline in the most recent decade alone, per Wikipedia's citation of Census Bureau data. That trend line does not agree with every source: DataUSA's profile of the town, current as of this guide's September 2026 research, reports a 2024 population of 2,571 -- more than 50% higher than the 2020 decennial count and a far larger gap than the modest single-digit rebounds this guide has found on the 2020-to-latest-estimate comparisons for neighboring Hampton and Estill. This guide could not reconcile the two figures and discloses the conflict rather than picking one. DataUSA's same 2024 data puts median household income at roughly $55,714 (up 5.52% year over year) and the poverty rate at 14.4%, with Health Care & Social Assistance and Public Administration tied as the town's largest employment sectors at 133 workers each. Against that population base, this guide identified two rental communities with an address inside Varnville as of September 2026: Varnville I and Varnville II, both on Ginn Street and both administered by the Varnville Area Housing Corp. A private housing-search directory describes both as subsidized housing and separately claims roughly 80 income-based apartment units exist somewhere in the broader area -- a regional figure that spans more than these two named properties and could not be confirmed as unique to Varnville alone. Checking both addresses, plus Varnville Town Hall and Hampton Regional Medical Center, against the Census Bureau's public geocoder found no jurisdiction surprises: all four resolve cleanly to the incorporated Town of Varnville.

Common Lease Terms in Varnville

No community in Varnville publishes a full lease, application, or open-market fee schedule, so what's known has to be pieced together from a single third-party housing directory rather than from either property's own primary source:

• Varnville I, at 516 Ginn St per the directory listing, is described as subsidized housing administered by the Varnville Area Housing Corp -- no independently confirmed unit count, building age, or floor plan mix could be located
• Varnville II, at 160 Ginn St, one block from Varnville I and under the same Varnville Area Housing Corp administration per the directory, is likewise described only as subsidized housing, with no further detail available beyond that listing
• The same directory references roughly 80 income-based apartment units somewhere in the broader area, a figure this guide could not confirm applies to Varnville specifically rather than a wider multi-town service area
• South Carolina Regional Housing Authority No. 3 -- the same agency named on this guide's Hampton, SC research -- is named by the directory as administering Section 8 and public housing programs for the area, though this guide could not independently confirm that reference against the authority's own materials

Local Tenant Protections

South Carolina law provides the baseline for tenant rights, but Varnville 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 Varnville, may enact an ordinance regulating the rent charged on privately owned residential property
• The Town of Varnville's own website, reviewed September 2026, publishes a working Ordinances & Resolutions listing -- unlike some neighboring Hampton County towns this guide has researched, whose codes could not be located anywhere -- naming a 2025 garbage/debris ordinance, a 2024 Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance, a 2022 Fair Housing Resolution, a face-mask ordinance, and a referendum ordinance, but nothing specific to rental-property registration or landlord licensing
• Varnville's Business License Department administers licensing for businesses operating in town, though this guide could not confirm whether that requirement extends to residential rental property specifically
• Checking Varnville Town Hall, both identified rental communities, and Hampton Regional Medical Center against the Census Bureau's public geocoder found no jurisdiction mismatch -- all four addresses resolve cleanly to the incorporated Town of Varnville

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

Mandatory Fees at Varnville Communities

No fee schedule could be independently verified for either identified Varnville community, as of September 2026.

• Neither Varnville I nor Varnville II has a confirmable property website or independently reachable management contact beyond the Varnville Area Housing Corp name, so no application fee, pet fee, or deposit amount could be sourced beyond a third-party directory's general "subsidized housing" description
• Subsidized housing communities typically set fees and deposit amounts through the managing housing authority or agency rather than an open-market fee schedule, which is consistent with the directory's description of both Varnville communities but could not be confirmed against a primary source for 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 directory-listed description isn't the same as a confirmed fee schedule -- confirming any figure directly with the Varnville Area Housing Corp or South Carolina Regional Housing Authority No. 3, in writing, before applying is the only way to know the real total at either Varnville community.

A Railroad Rivalry, a Hollywood Cameo, and Varnville's Local Economy

Varnville traces to 1872, when two competing town layouts grew together into one: a plat by A. McBride Peeples on one side, and on the other a right-of-way the Varn brothers sold to the Port Royal & Augusta Railroad from their own sawmill land, per the town's own website and Wikipedia. Hampton County was carved out of Beaufort County six years later in 1878, with its seat established three miles away in what became Hampton; Wikipedia describes Varnville and Hampton as forming a "twin town," sharing civic and cultural events to this day. The Hattie J. Peeples House was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992. In 1993, several scenes from the film Forrest Gump were shot in Varnville, some of which were used to create the fictional town of Greenbow, Alabama -- a real, verifiable production credit for a town of under 2,000 residents. The town operates under a mayor-council government from Town Hall at 95 East Palmetto Avenue; Mayor Nathaniel A. "Nat" Shaffer was first appointed by then-Governor Nikki Haley in February 2011 and has been re-elected every four years since April 2012.

Hampton County's own list of its largest employers -- sourced to an April 2024 South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce community profile, per Wikipedia -- names the U.S. Department of Justice, Food Lion, Hampton Regional Medical Center, and Le Creuset. This guide's own research, and its separate research into Hampton's rental market, has traced the Department of Justice entry to FCI Estill near the town of Estill, not Hampton or Varnville. Hampton Regional Medical Center is a different story: the not-for-profit community hospital's own website lists its address as 595 West Carolina Avenue, and both that website and the Census Bureau's geocoder confirm the address sits inside Varnville, not the county seat it's named for. The hospital describes itself as having served the region since 1950. DataUSA's 2024 employment breakdown for Varnville shows Health Care & Social Assistance tied with Public Administration as the town's largest employment sector, at 133 workers each -- a pairing that lines up with a hospital and a town/county government presence, though DataUSA does not break the figure down by specific employer. Construction is the third-largest sector at 111 workers. Public schools serving Varnville include Varnville Elementary School and North District Middle School, feeding into Wade Hampton High School.

Common Issues Renters Face in Varnville

These are the most frequent considerations this guide's research turned up for renters in Varnville:

• No community identified in Varnville publishes independently verifiable market-rate pricing, so comparing "Varnville rent" to a neighboring town's published figures isn't possible from public sources alone
• Both identified communities are known to this guide only through a single third-party housing directory and a shared administrator name (Varnville Area Housing Corp), with no independently reachable property website for either -- worth confirming details directly with the housing corp before assuming any listed detail is current
• The directory's roughly-80-unit figure for "the area" spans more territory than two small Ginn Street communities would typically account for, and this guide could not confirm how much of that total, if any, sits specifically inside Varnville
• Population sources disagree sharply here: a 1,669 count at the 2020 census against a 2024 DataUSA estimate of 2,571 -- a gap far larger than the small rebounds this guide found on nearby Hampton's and Estill's pages, and one this guide could not resolve from public sources alone
• Hampton County's own namesake hospital, one of the county's largest employers, sits inside Varnville rather than the county seat -- worth knowing before assuming Hampton's own town limits capture all of the county's major institutions

Negotiating Your Lease in Varnville

South Carolina is landlord-favorable with minimal statutory protections, and Varnville's rental market has no independently published market-rate price to benchmark against at either of its two identified communities.

• Confirming current eligibility, program type, and waitlist status directly with the Varnville Area Housing Corp or South Carolina Regional Housing Authority No. 3 is the only way to verify a detail this guide could only source from a third-party directory
• Asking whether the roughly-80-unit figure the directory cites for "the area" includes Varnville I and Varnville II specifically, or refers to a wider multi-town count, is a reasonable question before assuming more inventory exists in town than the two named properties
• Comparing a quoted Varnville figure against Hampton or Estill, two nearby Hampton County markets this guide has also researched, can help gauge whether a specific quote is reasonable for the region
• Confirming a specific unit's commute distance to Hampton Regional Medical Center or to Hampton's own county-government offices is a reasonable way to judge a lease's value, since the two towns' institutions sit in different places despite sharing the county's name

A community with no independently verifiable pricing isn't automatically a red flag in a market this thin -- but it does mean every figure needs confirming directly with the housing corp or housing authority before signing anything.