Charleston vs North Charleston

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

Charleston and North Charleston 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 117,460 in North Charleston). Charleston has the higher median household income ($90,038 vs $62,789 in North Charleston). Charleston has the higher median home value ($469,100 vs $267,700 in North Charleston).

Population, income & housing

	Charleston	North Charleston
Population	152,014	117,460
Median age	36.1 yrs	34.3 yrs
Median household income	$90,038	$62,789
Median home value	$469,100	$267,700
Median gross rent	$1,632	$1,364
Housing units	75,826	53,133
Homeownership rate	55.6%	48.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	57.7%	28.0%
Unemployment rate	3.4%	4.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Charleston	North Charleston
Population	135,257 → 152,014 (+12.4%)	111,501 → 117,460 (+5.3%)
Median household income	$68,438 → $90,038 (+31.6%)	$45,510 → $62,789 (+38.0%)
Median home value	$330,600 → $469,100 (+41.9%)	$174,800 → $267,700 (+53.1%)
Median gross rent	$1,257 → $1,632 (+29.8%)	$1,051 → $1,364 (+29.8%)

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

North Charleston

Population

111,501117,460

Median household income

$45,510$62,789

Median home value

$174,800$267,700

Median gross rent

$1,051$1,364

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Charleston	North Charleston
Under 5	5.1%	6.9%
5 to 17	12.4%	15.6%
18 to 24	11.9%	9.9%
25 to 34	19.0%	18.5%
35 to 44	14.1%	14.0%
45 to 54	10.2%	11.1%
55 to 64	11.2%	11.6%
65 to 74	9.5%	7.7%
75 and over	6.6%	4.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Charleston	North Charleston
White (non-Hispanic)	70.6%	37.0%
Black or African American	17.3%	41.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	2.2%	3.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.7%
Some other race	0.4%	0.6%
Two or more races	3.5%	3.6%
Hispanic or Latino	5.9%	12.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Charleston	North Charleston
No high school diploma	4.1%	13.3%
High school graduate	15.4%	26.6%
Some college or associate's	22.8%	32.1%
Bachelor's degree	35.5%	18.2%
Graduate or professional degree	22.2%	9.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Charleston	North Charleston
Drove alone	68.1%	76.6%
Carpooled	6.5%	10.4%
Public transit	0.9%	1.8%
Walked	4.1%	0.9%
Bicycle	1.5%	0.6%
Worked from home	17.6%	8.4%
Other means	1.2%	1.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Charleston	North Charleston
1-unit, detached	47.9%	49.1%
1-unit, attached	6.8%	7.3%
2 to 4 units	8.9%	8.3%
5 to 19 units	19.3%	18.1%
20 or more units	16.1%	10.3%
Mobile home & other	1.0%	6.9%

Poverty & households

	Charleston	North Charleston
Poverty rate	12.0%	15.5%
Average household size	2.20	2.39
Mean commute (minutes)	24	25
Median year structure built	1994	1995