The South Carolina Attorney General's Office released a 114-page report Monday morning that detailed the extent of known human trafficking throughout the state in 2025.
A reported 315 tips with more than 300 "potential victims" were investigated by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division. Investigations spanned across 41 of the state's 46 counties. Just Abbeville, Allendale, Calhoun, Lee, and McCormick counties had no tips investigated last year. Attorney General Alan Wilson announced the findings at the Statehouse in Columbia.
Nine counties saw double-digit investigation numbers. Greenville County topped off the list with 35 investigations in 2025, and it was joined by Berkeley, Charleston, Richland, Lexington, Dorchester, Spartanburg, Horry and Anderson counties in having more than 10 investigations. Each of these counties has a population at least 170,00 people, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Conversely, the five counties with no reported investigations were among some of South Carolina's least populated.
Of the 315 reported human trafficking tips, 86% involved sex trafficking. And 234 of the 323 identified victims were children. Data from the National Human Trafficking Hotline was not included in this year's report "due to an operator transition." Wilson's office said in a press release that statistics were shared from the Department of Social Services and the Department of Juvenile Justice.
South Carolina now requires a certification for service providers who directly work with human trafficking survivors. Launched in 2025, the state's human trafficking task force created the South Carolina Safe House Certification Program for those provides.
The National Human Trafficking Hotline can be reached at 888-373-7888.
