Side-by-side metrics and state or size-class ranks use the same Census and FBI fields shown on this profile. Results stay in the URL so you can bookmark or share them.
Place dossier plate
SheetSC-NORTH-CHARLESTON-SC · North Charleston, SC 117,460 pop · income 40th pct
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around North Charleston
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest North Charleston on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Columbia · lowest
55,653
Columbia · lowest
55,653 median HH income
39.4% of the leader · rank #1
Grabill · near
62,788
Grabill · near
62,788 median HH income
44.4% of the leader · rank #2
Fordoche · near
62,788
Fordoche · near
62,788 median HH income
44.4% of the leader · rank #3
Butler · near
62,788
Butler · near
62,788 median HH income
44.4% of the leader · rank #4
North Charles… · this city
62,789
North Charles… · this city
62,789 median HH income
44.4% of the leader · rank #5
Fort Polk Sou… · near
62,790
Fort Polk Sou… · near
62,790 median HH income
44.4% of the leader · rank #6
The Woodlands · highest
141,353
The Woodlands · highest
141,353 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for North Charleston on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 117,460.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
North Charleston - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, North Charleston places in the 40th percentile for household income and the 4th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
40th
percentile, household income
59th
percentile, home value
46th
percentile, median rent
4th
percentile, safety
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: North Charleston, SC
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 117,460 residents in North Charleston, a mid-sized U.S. city within South Carolina. North Charleston households earn a median of $62,789 annually, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 11.5%. Home values in North Charleston run a median of $267,700, and the median resident age is 34.3 years. 28.0% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 63.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 1,698 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Growing), up 18% from five years earlier. North Charleston's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: FBI UCR figures show 4766.4 crimes per 100,000 residents, above the national average (reporting is voluntary across agencies, so treat this as reporting activity rather than a definitive danger score).
Living costs in South Carolina run below the national norm: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, South Carolina scores 93.7 (Below Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,155 per month. Monthly utility costs average around $224 across South Carolina, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. Natural-hazard exposure scores 70.7 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (High).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of North Charleston's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from reported crime to work and mobility to comparison shortlist to population change to housing and income to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For North Charleston, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, commute-mode shares, matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Reported crime
What can the FBI record say about safety in North Charleston?
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 4766.4 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 109% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
What does the journey to work look like in North Charleston?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 76.6%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Which cities make useful reference points for North Charleston?
Within South Carolina, the closest population matches are Columbia (138,019 residents, $55,653 income); Mount Pleasant (92,662 residents, $121,364 income); Charleston (152,014 residents, $90,038 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Cambridge, MA (117,794 residents); Clearwater, FL (117,075 residents); Lakeland, FL (117,030 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
Is North Charleston growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Recent estimates point upward. Growth can increase housing demand and service needs, but the permit record must move in the same direction before calling it a supply response; the two series measure different things.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +13,635 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +11.8% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 1,698 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in North Charleston?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 4.3 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 11.5%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
Household income
$62,789
Home value
$267,700
Value / income
4.3×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What does the education layer cover for North Charleston?
The NCES join finds 30 public schools within the city match. 28.0% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
Matched public schools
30
Bachelor's degree+
28.0%
Poverty estimate
11.5%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Below median income · poverty 11.5% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
93.7 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, South Carolina average
F
City profile score · North Charleston, SC
39/100
5 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Cost of living B
93.7 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Bachelor's+ share C-
28.0%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$62,789
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
11.5%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime F
811 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
North Charleston profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 70/100 (B) · 93.7 index
Bachelor's+ share: 54/100 (C-) · 28.0%
Household income: 39/100 (F) · $62,789
Poverty rate: 34/100 (F) · 11.5%
Violent crime: 1/100 (F) · 811 /100k
Where North Charleston sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
North Charleston's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - North Charleston highlighted among 10 peers.Read the chart values
North Charleston, SC (this city): home $267,700, crime 4,766/100k
Cambridge, MA : home $1,040,500, crime 3,081/100k
Richardson, TX : home $405,600, crime 1,980/100k
Billings, MT : home $311,800, crime 3,830/100k
Columbia, SC : home $243,500, crime 4,003/100k
Mount Pleasant, SC : home $667,100, crime 1,300/100k
Charleston, SC : home $469,100, crime 2,379/100k
Rock Hill, SC : home $267,400, crime 2,789/100k
Greenville, SC : home $453,300, crime 4,113/100k
Summerville, SC : home $295,700, crime 1,991/100k
How does North Charleston compare to other US cities?
North Charleston measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income40% higher than other cities
Home value59% pricier than other cities
Median rent46% pricier than other cities
Safety4% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just South Carolina and the picture shifts: North Charleston ranks #94 of 127 South Carolina cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares North Charleston against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to South Carolina only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
South Carolina-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places North Charleston near the bottom of South Carolina's cities
Among the 441 South Carolina cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, North Charleston ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares North Charleston only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#124 of 403
69th percentile in South Carolina
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 441
0th percentile in South Carolina
Median Home Value
#68 of 404
83rd percentile in South Carolina
Poverty Rate
#236 of 439
46th percentile in South Carolina
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#122 of 441
72nd percentile in South Carolina
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within South Carolina only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
40th percentile nationally for median household income · 4th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
North Charleston's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
North Charleston's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How North Charleston's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$267,70041st percentilemore affordable than 41% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
North Charleston's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.3×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#11,429 of 15,516
More affordable than 26% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#355 of 750
Mid-size cities (50,000–199,999)
At 4.3×, North Charleston sits in the moderate band:
national rank #11,429 of 15,516 and #355 of 750mid-size cities (50,000–199,999).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$62,789North Charleston, SC median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context North Charleston, SC median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for North Charleston, SC.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)28.0%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)11.5%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)63.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
117,460
Median Income
$62,789
Median Home Value
$267,700
Median Age
34.3
Poverty Rate
11.5%
Labor force participation
63.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
28.0%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
4766.4
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
810.5
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
3955.9
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Schools
Total Schools
30
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
North Charleston's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
115,610 residents
2021
117,663 residents
2022
118,860 residents
2023
121,910 residents
2024
126,551 residents
2025
129,245 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Growing
Total Permits (2024)
1,698
housing units authorized
Single-Family
881
detached homes
Multifamily
817
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
14.5
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
1,439
549
890
$137.7M
2020
1,396
672
724
$142.5M
2021
748
264
484
$89.2M
2022
1,692
456
1,236
$213.1M
2023
2,156
911
1,245
$242.7M
2024
1,698
881
817
$209.1M
Permit volume increased 18% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
76.6%
Carpool
10.4%
Public Transit
1.8%
Walk
0.9%
Work from Home
8.4%
Other
1.9%
Based on 60,301 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
South Carolina statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $224
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across South Carolina at $224 (electricity about $130 , water and sewer about $42 ).
These are South Carolina statewide averages, not a meter reading for North Charleston. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
South Carolina's BEA cost-of-living index is 93.7 (Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around North Charleston is $1,155/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to South Carolina statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 70.7 / 100 (High).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a South Carolina statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county North Charleston sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How North Charleston compares to similar-size South Carolina cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, FBI UCR, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.