Highlights & Unique Facts

If you are a site consultant seeking the International Economic Development Council’s standard data set, you’ll find that here.  But don’t click yet!  In addition to the standard data, we’ve also listed a few additional points of unique interest:

Unique Facts

  1. “Oconee” is a Cherokee word meaning “land beside water.”
  2. Oconee County is located on the Interstate 85 corridor and is the closest South Carolina county to metro Atlanta, Georgia.
  3. If you enjoy the outdoors, National Geographic magazine named Oconee County’s Jocassee Gorges one of their ’50 of the World’s Destinations of a Lifetime.’
  4. Oconee County has the third lowest property tax in South Carolina.
  5. Oconee County is much like South Carolina as a whole, whereas the industrial power rates are 9% lower than the national average.
  6. Oconee County has three county-owned industrial parks that are “certified” by the South Carolina Department of Commerce and McCallum Sweeney Consulting.
  7. Oconee County is an ACT Certified Work Ready Community.
  8. Oconee County was ranked as the No. 1 top performing micropolitan in the U.S. in 2018 by Site Selection Magazine.
  9. South Carolina ranked 37th on a state business tax climate index for 2017, which measures how each state’s tax laws affect economic performance by comparing corporate, individual income, sales, unemployment insurance and property tax.
  10. South Carolina was ranked as the 12th-most business friendly state for corporate taxes for 2017.
  11. Seneca was ranked the best place to start a business in South Carolina by NerdWallet in 2015.
  12. Oconee County and the Oconee Economic Alliance has ushered in over $480 million in new taxable capital investment and nearly 1500 new jobs spread over 36 projects since 2012.

Highlights