[2] Laurens County is included in the Greenville-Anderson-Greer, SC Metropolitan Statistical Area.

One of nine modern counties of the Colonial Ninety-Six District, Laurens County hosted more "official" (i.e. officially recognized and contemporaneously documented by competent governments) battles than did half of the original colonies.

24.60% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.80% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

However, armed whites attacked the black militia and disarmed them; some were wounded, others murdered.

"Like companies of Confederate cavalry", "heavily armed whites" pushed away black voters—until Federal troops came from twenty miles away, with Crews, and took the ballot boxes.

[19] but was murdered by Democrats[20] in the run-up to the 1876 South Carolina gubernatorial election.

The 20 years from 1948 to 1968 were a highly transitional time for the politics of South Carolina and Laurens County, largely in part due to the Democratic Party's increasing support for African-American civil rights and enfranchisement.

Barry Goldwater's opposition to the Civil Rights Act led the county to turn Republican for the first time in 1964, which it remained for Richard Nixon's two electoral victories.

From 1984, the county has been consistently Republican in presidential elections, often by wide margins of victory.

[23] As of April 2024[update], some of the largest employers in the county include CeramTec, National Healthcare, Presbyterian College, Shaw Industries, Sterilite, and Walmart.

[25] The Ware Shoals area[citation needed] is covered by the multi-county Greenwood County District 51.

Presbyterian College, located in Clinton, is a four-year liberal-arts school founded in 1880.