This episode of Simple Civics: Greenville County is brought to you by Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, providing free books to children zero to five throughout Greenville County. To sign up, visit greenvillefirststeps.org/freebooks.
Your mailbox says "Taylors," your neighbors call it "Greenville," and your GPS has its own opinion entirely. Behind this geographical identity crisis lies a system that determines your tax bill, your services, and whether you can vote in this year's municipal elections. Join Katy and Nathaniel as they decode the invisible boundaries that shape daily life in Greenville County - revealing why Taylors isn't legally a town, why a Greenville address doesn’t mean you get a Greenville city vote, and how these distinctions impact where your tax dollars go. Whether you've lived here for decades or just arrived, discover where you actually live before heading to the polls in 2025.
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Transcript
Katy Smith: [0:01] Oftentimes, I get to speak with folks about how local government works, and I always get questions like, Taylors isn't a city? Or if I vote in the city of Mauldin, why is my address Greenville? Or how can some people who live in Greer be residents of Spartanburg County and others residents of Greenville County? This is especially confusing for newcomers to the Greenville area. So today, we are going deep into something that might seem simple, but actually explains a lot about how life works around here. Our producer, Nathaniel DeSantis and I will cover the basics on counties, cities and towns, census-designated places, and zip code areas. From Moonville to Mauldin, from Slater to Simpsonville, and Taylors to Traveler's Rest, and for newcomers and long-timers alike, we will help you understand where you are.
Nathaniel DeSantis: [0:47] Welcome back, everyone, to another episode of the podcast. Thank you again for listening. Today we're talking about something that's a little bit confusing. So it's confusing when our mail comes to one address, but it feels like we're actually living in another. Or we've heard a lot of people who live within Greenville County wonder why they don't get to vote in the race for Greenville's mayor. That's kind of a weird and wonderful and wacky territory that we're going to explore today. So... Diving right in, we're going to start from the top. Katie, what's the deal with counties?
Katy Smith: [1:19] Well, in South Carolina, we have 46 counties and they are the broadest form of local government. So every bit of the state falls within a county. Of course, we live in Greenville County, but we have Richland, Beaufort, Oconee, all the other places. So counties handle the big things for people who live within that county, like roads, public safety, courts, election, property taxes. So even if you don't live in a city or town, chances are your services come from the county.
Nathaniel DeSantis: [1:44] So even if you're not in a city, you're not off the grid.
Katy Smith: [1:47] Exactly. There are asterisks on that. For instance, if you live in the county, you get services from the sheriff and in a city you get the police that handle law enforcement. We have a really complex system of highways, roads and streets in the county, each of which are maintained by different bodies of government depending on their ownership.
Nathaniel DeSantis: [2:05] Okay. Makes sense. What about cities and towns? What's the actual difference?
Katy Smith: [2:10] Well, there's a difference from counties to cities and towns. But between cities and towns, funny enough, in South Carolina, there is no legal difference. City and town are just names. Legally, they're both incorporated municipalities. So, for instance, the city of Greenville and the town of Bluffton function the same way. They've got a mayor, they've got a council, they can pass local laws. They handle zoning, water, trash pickup, and all that.
Nathaniel DeSantis: [2:34] So people choose to incorporate, because of those services, the water, trash pickup, etc.?
Katy Smith: [2:39] Exactly. Plus, they get more control over local development, and they can collect their own taxes. So in the county of Greenville, we have six cities. No one chose the name town here when they incorporated, and they are Travelers Rest, Greer, Greenville, Mauldin, Simpsonville, and Fountain Inn. And six is about the norm in the number of cities within a county in South Carolina. But fun fact, Orangeburg County has the most municipalities at 17. Here's the thing, the majority of people in Greenville County do not live in an incorporated area within a city. But many people are thinking, well, wait a minute. I live in Berea. I live in Taylors. That's something different.
Nathaniel DeSantis: [3:19] Which I believe, as we've talked about on the podcast, I believe that would be called a census-designated place, right?
Katy Smith: [3:26] Exactly. These are unincorporated communities that the U.S. Census Bureau defines purely for data collection. They don't have governments. They don't make laws. But they are, of course, real places where people live. They are places like Taylors, Five Forks, Berea, Sans Souci, Parker, Slater-Marietta. People identify with these places, but they are not technically towns or cities.
Nathaniel DeSantis: [3:49] So if they're not technically towns or cities, then they don't have a city council or a mayor, presumably a post office, but all the other things, they don't have them, right?
Katy Smith: [4:00] Right. So you might have a post office, you have schools, shopping center. It really might feel like a town, but it is not incorporated. In those places, the county handles all the services.
Nathaniel DeSantis: [4:12] That's kind of wild. So it's a, quote, town, you know, but just really socially or culturally, not legally. I guess the question that comes to my mind based off that is who names them? How does it get its name?
Katy Smith: [4:22] I love that because to me, I think cultural connection in any place is what's really most important. And I have heard people call people the mayor of some of these places, like he is the mayor of Berea. And I love that because to me, it presumes you're not political. You just care about your neighbors. And so really, it is kind of the community that names the place. These census-designated places come from what they have been called for a long time by the people who live there. I mean, Five Forks is where roads come together, and it has long been called Five Forks, even when it was rural. And it's just what it's known as. And now there's lots and lots of people who live in that area. It's kind of neat to me.
Nathaniel DeSantis: [4:59] So a second ago, I had mentioned the post office, and I think that's where I get a little bit confused. Something I've noticed is that I might have a zip code that might be, And 29607, that covers Greenville and Mauldin. And I guess it's just confusing what's the difference between zip codes, how does that tie in with everything we're talking about? So maybe we could talk about that for a second and how that affects all this.
Katy Smith: [5:23] It does get super confusing because you get your mail addressed to your home that says Traveler's Rest, and yet you do not live in the city of Traveler's Rest or get to vote there. Or you might get mail to Greenville, and yet you vote in Mauldin. So all of this has to do with the U.S. Postal Service, which is not paying attention to things like census-designated places or political boundaries. They are trying to figure out how to deliver the mail most efficiently. And so they create zip codes, like you mentioned, 07, we've got 29690, we've got 29605. They might cross city lines, they might go into incorporated and unincorporated areas. It is just there to help mail get delivered. And sometimes those boundaries align with political jurisdictions. A lot of times they don't, and it gets very confusing.
Nathaniel DeSantis: [6:14] So that's the instance then where your address could say Traveler's Rest, but you actually don't go vote in a Traveler's Rest city election.
Katy Smith: [6:22] Exactly. That happens all the time. People can have a city name on their address that gets delivered to their house that isn't tied to any city boundaries. It's just the name of the postal area, not the local government.
Nathaniel DeSantis: [6:34] All right. Well, I'll give a quick shout out to my dad born before zip codes were a thing. A long time listener of the podcast. First shout out. Hey, so then let's let me ask the big question that I think we're all kind of wondering at this point. Why does this stuff matter?
Katy Smith: [6:52] Well, number one, you need to get home. No, I'm kidding. It's a good question. It matters because it affects your taxes. It affects your services. It affects your schools and even who you vote for. If you are in a city, you might pay extra taxes for city services. If you're in a census-designated place or just in the county, those services might come from a different place or sometimes not at all. You might not get some services that are available within a city. And for businesses or grant funding, it can really make a difference because those CDPs or census-designated places need to be counted in census data to help them qualify for infrastructure improvements or disaster relief. So those boundaries do matter.
Nathaniel DeSantis: [7:33] One thing you did not mention, elections, voting?
Katy Smith: [7:35] Yes, it matters there too. And that's particularly relevant here in 2025 when we are recording this episode, because it is in the odd years that the cities in Greenville County have their municipal elections for city councils, for mayor, for things like water district. And so come November, all of you who live in a city need to go to the polls to choose your new city council members and in some cases mayor.
Nathaniel DeSantis: [8:00] And we've even done episodes on municipal elections. So we'll be sure to include that in the show notes, along with some other episodes that tie in really well. We've done a lot covering these individually, never as a whole. So as always, just check the show notes for that. But since we're at the end here, Katie, let's recap for the audience.
Katy Smith: [8:18] Yeah. OK, so again, this seems so basic, but the number of questions I get on it seems to indicate it's worth lifting up to take it in mass. So counties are the main government layer within South Carolina. We have 46 of them. Cities and towns are incorporated places with their own governments within those counties. We have six cities in Greenville County. Census-designated places are unincorporated areas defined by the census and not local law and get their name from what people have always called them in the area. Zip code places, lastly, are mailing areas created by the post office, and they don't follow any political boundaries.
Nathaniel DeSantis: [8:57] So the address that comes into your mailbox might not match the government collecting your taxes.
Katy Smith: [9:02] Exactly. So South Carolina geography is like a little Venn diagram with a whole lot of overlap.
Nathaniel DeSantis: [9:08] All right. Well, that was a really great, quick, thorough, but easy to understand overview of all this. I think it will help a lot for people to understand how all this works, because I mean, confuses me and we've been doing like this is 191 episodes of the podcast and I'm still learning something new. I'm still confused all the time and learning something new from the podcast. This is yet another thing we can all learn from. So everyone who's listening, thank you very much for staying tuned. Katie, thanks for teaching us all this stuff.
Katy Smith: [9:38] Well, I'm learning every day too. And I think it would be fun to put in the show notes for all of you who are even more curious links to how you can look at the census-designated places, zip code areas, and other political boundaries within Greenville County. So keep learning.
Nathaniel DeSantis: [9:53] Hi, Simple Civics: Greenville County listeners, Nathaniel here. If you've made it this far, then we think you'll really love our newsletter. Sign up for bonus content, updates, and more right in your inbox. Look for the link in the description that says newsletter to sign up or visit us at simplecivicsgreenvillecounty.org. Find the link in the menu that says newsletter and sign up there we'll see you again next week.
Catherine Puckett: Simple Civics: Greenville County is a project of Greater Good Greenville. Greater Good Greenville was catalyzed by the merger of the Nonprofit Alliance and the Greenville Partnership for Philanthropy. You can learn more on our website at greatergoodgreenville.org.
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Simple Civics: Greenville County is Produced by Podcast Studio X.
A Greater Good Greenville project.
