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Charleston, SC
Real Estate & Demographic Data






Charleston profile


Living in Charleston


Charleston is a relatively large coastal city (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of South Carolina. With a population of 151,612 people and 47 constituent neighborhoods, Charleston is the largest community in South Carolina.

Charleston home prices are not only among the most expensive in South Carolina, but Charleston real estate also consistently ranks among the most expensive in America.

Charleston is a decidedly white-collar city, with fully 86.89% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Charleston is a city of professionals, sales and office workers, and managers. There are especially a lot of people living in Charleston who work in management occupations (13.26%), sales jobs (11.82%), and healthcare (9.14%).

Also of interest is that Charleston has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.

Telecommuters are a relatively large percentage of the workforce: 9.06% of people work from home. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce it is high relative to the nation. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes.

Another interesting thing about Charleston, despite not being a huge city, is that there is a relatively high proportion of people living here who are young, single, and upwardly-mobile professionals. This makes it a good choice for other relocating single professionals. Here, these young singles will find many others like themselves, with opportunities for friendships, socializing, romance, and fun.

Charleston is also nautical, which means that parts of it are somewhat historic and touch the ocean or tidal bodies of water, such as inlets and bays. Such areas are often places that visitors and locals go for waterfront activities or taking in the scenery.

If knowledge is power, Charleston is a pretty powerful place. 54.41% of the adults in Charleston have earned a 4-year college degree, masters degree, MD, law degree, or even PhD. Compare that to the national average of 21.84% for all cities and towns.

The per capita income in Charleston in 2018 was $46,575, which is wealthy relative to South Carolina and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $186,300 for a family of four. However, Charleston contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

Charleston is a very ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Charleston home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Charleston residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Charleston include German, English, Irish, Italian, and Scottish.

The most common language spoken in Charleston is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and French.