Charleston vs South Charleston

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

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

Charleston has the higher population (47,918 vs 13,594 in South Charleston). Charleston has the higher median household income ($64,512 vs $59,616 in South Charleston). Charleston has the higher median home value ($187,300 vs $144,800 in South Charleston).

Population, income & housing

	Charleston	South Charleston
Population	47,918	13,594
Median age	42.6 yrs	41.1 yrs
Median household income	$64,512	$59,616
Median home value	$187,300	$144,800
Median gross rent	$898	$857
Housing units	25,586	6,733
Homeownership rate	62.8%	68.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	44.1%	35.3%
Unemployment rate	6.3%	6.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Charleston	South Charleston
Population	48,006 → 47,918 (-0.2%)	12,475 → 13,594 (+9.0%)
Median household income	$43,344 → $64,512 (+48.8%)	$53,713 → $59,616 (+11.0%)
Median home value	$145,800 → $187,300 (+28.5%)	$130,700 → $144,800 (+10.8%)
Median gross rent	$735 → $898 (+22.2%)	$702 → $857 (+22.1%)

Charleston

Population

48,00647,918

Median household income

$43,344$64,512

Median home value

$145,800$187,300

Median gross rent

$735$898

South Charleston

Population

12,47513,594

Median household income

$53,713$59,616

Median home value

$130,700$144,800

Median gross rent

$702$857

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Charleston	South Charleston
Under 5	4.2%	3.7%
5 to 17	14.2%	17.8%
18 to 24	8.0%	6.6%
25 to 34	14.2%	12.2%
35 to 44	12.3%	16.2%
45 to 54	11.9%	12.5%
55 to 64	14.3%	12.2%
65 to 74	12.7%	9.7%
75 and over	8.1%	9.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Charleston	South Charleston
White (non-Hispanic)	75.9%	84.9%
Black or African American	11.8%	7.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.3%
Asian	2.7%	1.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.1%
Two or more races	7.5%	4.7%
Hispanic or Latino	1.9%	1.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Charleston	South Charleston
No high school diploma	7.9%	4.3%
High school graduate	22.8%	30.3%
Some college or associate's	25.2%	30.1%
Bachelor's degree	22.2%	20.0%
Graduate or professional degree	21.9%	15.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Charleston	South Charleston
Drove alone	70.7%	77.7%
Carpooled	8.5%	9.2%
Public transit	2.1%	1.9%
Walked	5.4%	2.7%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.0%
Worked from home	11.2%	8.3%
Other means	1.9%	0.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Charleston	South Charleston
1-unit, detached	66.6%	70.9%
1-unit, attached	3.2%	2.4%
2 to 4 units	12.9%	10.1%
5 to 19 units	5.9%	9.8%
20 or more units	10.5%	5.7%
Mobile home & other	0.9%	1.0%

Poverty & households

	Charleston	South Charleston
Poverty rate	16.5%	21.0%
Average household size	2.16	2.22
Mean commute (minutes)	18	19
Median year structure built	1956	1958