[2] It was named for Confederate Civil War general Wade Hampton, who in the late 1870s, with the ending of Reconstruction, was elected as governor of South Carolina.

[3] The county is named for Wade Hampton III, one of the country's leading slaveowners and a Lieutenant General for the Confederacy during the American Civil War.

After the war, he led the Redeemers and Red Shirts on a campaign to reestablish Democratic rule South Carolina.

The county had a peak of population in 1910, when agriculture was still the mainstay of the economy.

Thousands of African Americans left after that for urban areas, especially in the North, in the Great Migration.

[4] As of the 2020 census, there were 18,561 people, 6,993 households, and 4,148 families residing in the county.

At the 2010 census, there were 21,090 people, 7,598 households, and 5,211 families living in the county.

25.80% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.20% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

[21] Some of the largest employers in the county include the United States Department of Justice, Food Lion, The Habit Burger Grill, Hampton Regional Medical Center, and Le Creuset.