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

Yemassee Rental Market Overview

Yemassee's population grew from 807 at the 2000 census to 1,027 in 2010 (a 27.3% increase) and to 1,080 in 2020 (a further 5.2% increase), per the Census Bureau figures cited on Wikipedia -- modest, steady growth rather than the sharp swings this guide has documented on some other small Hampton County pages. DataUSA's 2024 estimate puts the town at 1,178 residents, consistent with that same gradual trend, with median household income at roughly $44,896 (up 21.6% year over year) and a poverty rate of 27.3%, well above the national average. Unlike a typical single-jurisdiction small town, Yemassee's own incorporated limits straddle two counties: Wikipedia describes the CSX railroad line running along the Hampton-Beaufort county boundary directly through town, and checking specific in-town addresses against the Census Bureau's public geocoder for this guide confirmed the split is real, not just a map abstraction -- Fennell Elementary School (131 Yemassee Highway, part of Hampton County School District) and the Yemassee Highway/US-17 corridor resolve to Hampton County, while Castle Hall Road, a few blocks away, resolves to Beaufort County, all within the same incorporated Town of Yemassee. Against that backdrop, this guide identified one rental community with a confirmed address inside town limits as of September 2026: Yemassee Heights, a Section 8 and public-housing property at 21 Castle Hall Road administered by the Beaufort Housing Authority -- not a Hampton County agency, despite most of the town's population and its own school district sitting in Hampton County. National apartment aggregators separately advertise communities like Broad River Village and Preserve at Hanover Park as available to Yemassee renters, but checking their own addresses (100 Broad River Village Drive and 125 New Hanover Road, both zip 29906) shows both sit in the city of Beaufort, roughly 20 miles away -- not inside Yemassee at all.

Common Lease Terms in Yemassee

No community with a confirmed address inside Yemassee publishes a full lease, application, or open-market fee schedule, so what's known has to be pieced together from a housing authority's own program listings and from conflicting third-party rent data rather than from a single primary source:

• Yemassee Heights, at 21 Castle Hall Road, is a Section 8 and public-housing property administered by the Beaufort Housing Authority -- not by Hampton County, where most of the town's population and its school district sit -- and sets terms through the authority's own income-based program rather than an open-market lease
• Zillow's own market-trends page for Yemassee lists a median rent of $2,548, but that figure is dated December 2022 and based on just 7 tracked listings, while Census-derived 2024 estimates reported by third-party demographic sites put median gross rent at roughly $736 to $806 a month -- a gap of more than three times that this guide could not reconcile from public sources
• Two communities national aggregators advertise as Yemassee options, Broad River Village and Preserve at Hanover Park, both carry their own addresses (100 Broad River Village Drive and 125 New Hanover Road) in the city of Beaufort, roughly 20 miles away -- an aggregator search-radius overreach rather than a genuine in-town listing
• No independently reachable private, open-market rental community could be confirmed with an address actually inside Yemassee's town limits as of September 2026

Local Tenant Protections

South Carolina law provides the baseline for tenant rights, but Yemassee 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 Yemassee, may enact an ordinance regulating the rent charged on privately owned residential property
• The Town of Yemassee's Code of Ordinances is codified through Municode (adopted via Ordinance 23-15 in 2023), and its zoning ordinance was most recently revised August 13, 2024, per the town's own website, but this guide could not locate a rental-registration or landlord-licensing provision in either
• Yemassee's incorporated limits straddle the Hampton-Beaufort county line along the CSX railroad corridor; checking specific addresses against the Census Bureau's public geocoder for this guide confirmed Fennell Elementary School and the Highway 17 corridor sit in Hampton County while Castle Hall Road (Yemassee Heights, Alpha Genesis) sits in Beaufort County, all within the same Town of Yemassee
• South Carolina's magistrate courts, which typically handle landlord-tenant matters, are organized by county rather than municipality, so which side of town a rental sits on can determine which county's court applies even though one town government covers both halves

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

Mandatory Fees at Yemassee Communities

No fee schedule could be independently verified for Yemassee's one identified rental community, as of September 2026.

• Yemassee Heights, a Section 8 and public-housing property administered by the Beaufort Housing Authority, sets fees and eligibility through the housing authority's own income-based program rather than an open-market fee schedule, and no application or pet fee could be independently sourced beyond that general program description
• No independently reachable private, open-market rental community could be confirmed inside Yemassee's town limits, so no market-rate fee schedule exists to check
• South Carolina law sets no statutory cap on application fees, pet fees, or administrative fees -- whatever a specific lease states is what governs

A single-community rental market with conflicting published rent figures isn't automatically a red flag -- but it does mean every number needs confirming directly with the Beaufort Housing Authority, in writing, before applying.

Railroads, Recruits, and a Runaway Research Colony: Yemassee's Local Economy

Yemassee's own history begins with railroads: the town was established as a junction depot in 1870, when the Port Royal Railroad's completion connected it to the Charleston and Savannah Railway, according to Wikipedia. The name predates the railroad by more than a century and a half -- it comes from the Yamasee people, and the opening attack of the 1715 Yamasee War is traditionally placed at Pocotaligo, a settlement now considered part of Yemassee. The depot took on a second identity in the 20th century: from 1914 to 1964, per the Marine Corps' own historical materials, Yemassee's train station served as the arrival point for recruits headed to Parris Island Recruit Depot, with more than 500,000 passing through the town before being moved onward -- Parris Island itself sits roughly 30 miles away near Beaufort and has never been inside Yemassee's own town limits, so the connection is historical and logistical, not a matter of shared jurisdiction. The Charleston and Western Carolina Railway built the current station house around 1955 to replace earlier depot buildings, and the Town of Yemassee itself bought the building from CSX for $1 in 2010, launching a restoration campaign that continues; the station remains an active Amtrak stop (station code YEM) today. Notable people associated with the town, per Wikipedia, include NBC journalist Frank Blair and African drummer Chief Bey.

The town's most visible employer today sits a short distance from the depot on the Beaufort County side of town: Alpha Genesis, a primate breeding and biomedical research facility on Castle Hall Road, is one of the largest commercial operations of its kind in the United States. It made national news starting November 6, 2024, when 43 young research monkeys escaped the property after a caretaker failed to fully secure an enclosure door -- law enforcement urged nearby residents to keep doors and windows shut while the animals were tracked down, and the last of the 43 wasn't recaptured until January 24, 2025, more than two months later. All were reported healthy, and a subsequent Post and Courier investigation examined the facility's broader safety record. DataUSA's 2024 estimate shows Yemassee's median household income at roughly $44,896, up 21.6% from the prior year, against a poverty rate of 27.3% -- well above the national average -- in a town whose two-county footprint puts residents close to both Hampton County's own government seat and Beaufort County's coastal job market.

Common Issues Renters Face in Yemassee

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

• No community identified in Yemassee publishes independently verifiable market-rate pricing, and the one confirmed community, Yemassee Heights, is income-based rather than open-market
• The two rent figures this guide could locate for Yemassee -- Zillow's $2,548 and a Census-derived $736-$806 range -- differ by more than three times, with no way to reconcile them from public sources alone
• National aggregators advertising Broad River Village and Preserve at Hanover Park as Yemassee rentals are actually describing properties in the city of Beaufort, roughly 20 miles away -- a mismatch worth catching before assuming either is a local commute
• Yemassee's own town limits split across Hampton and Beaufort counties, confirmed address-by-address via the Census Bureau's geocoder -- worth knowing since county court venue and some services differ by side of town even though one town council governs both
• Alpha Genesis, one of the town's largest employers, drew national attention in November 2024 when 43 research monkeys escaped its Castle Hall Road facility -- all were recaptured by January 2025, but it's a detail worth knowing about the town's most visible employer

Negotiating Your Lease in Yemassee

South Carolina is landlord-favorable with minimal statutory protections, and Yemassee's split-county rental market has no independently published market-rate price to benchmark against at its one identified community.

• Confirming current eligibility, income limits, and waitlist status directly with the Beaufort Housing Authority is the only way to verify a detail this guide could only source from the authority's own public housing listings for Yemassee Heights
• Confirming which county a specific Yemassee address actually sits in -- Hampton or Beaufort -- is a reasonable step before assuming which county's court or services would apply to a future dispute
• Comparing a quoted Yemassee figure against Hampton, Estill, or Walterboro, nearby South Carolina markets with a similar rural profile, is one way to gauge whether a specific quote is reasonable for the region
• Treating Zillow's $2,548 median-rent figure for Yemassee with some skepticism is reasonable given its own stale date and 7-listing sample size -- the Census-derived $736-$806 range is a more consistent starting point for the town's actual rental stock

A single-community rental market isn't automatically a red flag in a town this small -- but it does mean every figure needs confirming directly with the housing authority before signing anything.