Charleston vs James Island

A side-by-side comparison of Charleston and James Island: population, income, housing, and more.

Charleston and James Island are places in South Carolina. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Charleston has the higher population (152,014 vs 11,738 in James Island). James Island has the higher median household income ($100,176 vs $90,038 in Charleston). Charleston has the higher median home value ($469,100 vs $454,200 in James Island).

Population, income & housing

	Charleston	James Island
Population	152,014	11,738
Median age	36.1 yrs	41.3 yrs
Median household income	$90,038	$100,176
Median home value	$469,100	$454,200
Median gross rent	$1,632	$1,443
Housing units	75,826	4,683
Homeownership rate	55.6%	85.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	57.7%	48.0%
Unemployment rate	3.4%	1.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Charleston	James Island
Population	135,257 → 152,014 (+12.4%)	12,076 → 11,738 (-2.8%)
Median household income	$68,438 → $90,038 (+31.6%)	$81,674 → $100,176 (+22.7%)
Median home value	$330,600 → $469,100 (+41.9%)	$300,600 → $454,200 (+51.1%)
Median gross rent	$1,257 → $1,632 (+29.8%)	$1,374 → $1,443 (+5.0%)

Charleston

Population

135,257152,014

Median household income

$68,438$90,038

Median home value

$330,600$469,100

Median gross rent

$1,257$1,632

James Island

Population

12,07611,738

Median household income

$81,674$100,176

Median home value

$300,600$454,200

Median gross rent

$1,374$1,443

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Charleston	James Island
Under 5	5.1%	6.3%
5 to 17	12.4%	16.0%
18 to 24	11.9%	3.7%
25 to 34	19.0%	6.8%
35 to 44	14.1%	21.9%
45 to 54	10.2%	15.3%
55 to 64	11.2%	12.9%
65 to 74	9.5%	8.4%
75 and over	6.6%	8.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Charleston	James Island
White (non-Hispanic)	70.6%	82.6%
Black or African American	17.3%	12.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	2.2%	0.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.1%
Two or more races	3.5%	2.5%
Hispanic or Latino	5.9%	2.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Charleston	James Island
No high school diploma	4.1%	6.1%
High school graduate	15.4%	21.7%
Some college or associate's	22.8%	24.2%
Bachelor's degree	35.5%	32.1%
Graduate or professional degree	22.2%	15.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Charleston	James Island
Drove alone	68.1%	73.3%
Carpooled	6.5%	7.2%
Public transit	0.9%	0.3%
Walked	4.1%	1.5%
Bicycle	1.5%	0.2%
Worked from home	17.6%	15.1%
Other means	1.2%	2.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Charleston	James Island
1-unit, detached	47.9%	92.7%
1-unit, attached	6.8%	1.9%
2 to 4 units	8.9%	2.1%
5 to 19 units	19.3%	1.2%
20 or more units	16.1%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	1.0%	2.1%

Poverty & households

	Charleston	James Island
Poverty rate	12.0%	5.4%
Average household size	2.20	2.67
Mean commute (minutes)	24	23
Median year structure built	1994	1971