[7] It is the principal city of the Gaffney, South Carolina, Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Cherokee County and which is further included in the greater Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson, South Carolina Combined Statistical Area.

Michael Robert Gaffney was born in the town of Granard in County Longford, Ireland, in 1775.

[8] He emigrated to the United States in 1797, arriving in New York City and moving to Charleston, South Carolina, a few years later.

The location was perfect for growth because of the two major roads which met here, one from the mountains of North Carolina to Charleston and the other from Charlotte into Georgia.

Gaffney became a major center for the textile industry in South Carolina, which was the backbone of the county's economy up until the 1980s.

Uptown Gaffney began to languish after Interstate 85 was built in the county as industries located near the new highway.

In 1967–1968 Lee Roy Martin, known as the Gaffney Strangler, killed four people; two were young girls, a fourteen-year-old and a fifteen-year-old.

[11] Gaffney is located in northern South Carolina near the center of Cherokee County.

[16] In 2008, the Cherokee County History and Arts Museum opened on the former mustering ground of the South Carolina militia (1812–1914), and is one of the city's three nationally registered historic sites.

Fictional politician Frank Underwood, the protagonist of the Netflix series House of Cards, is a native of the city and its congressman in the U.S. House of Representatives (for South Carolina's 5th congressional district) and later President of the United States.