Colleton<\/a> to the west.<\/p>\nDemographics<\/h2>\n
The 2020 census counted 408,235 residents, and the Census Bureau’s 2024 estimate puts the county at 431,001 — growth of about 5.6 percent in four years. Charleston, with 150,227 people, is the largest community; North Charleston, at 114,852, is second. Median household income is $88,494 (American Community Survey, 2023 five-year estimate), well above the South Carolina figure of $72,350. Population density works out to roughly 469 people per square mile of land.<\/p>\n
Economy & Local Life<\/h2>\n
Health care and social assistance is the county’s largest employment sector, with about 30,389 workers, ahead of professional, scientific and technical services (25,951) and retail trade (21,308). Boeing South Carolina, which assembles 787 Dreamliners, is North Charleston’s best-known private employer; Joint Base Charleston, formed in 2010 from the merged Air Force base and naval weapons station, supports more than 79,000 service members, dependents and civilians across Charleston and Berkeley counties. The Medical University of South Carolina and Roper St. Francis operate the county’s major hospital systems, and the South Carolina Ports Authority runs the Port of Charleston, one of the busiest container ports on the East Coast.<\/p>\n
The Spoleto Festival USA<\/strong>, a 17-day performing arts festival held in late May and early June across downtown Charleston, is the biggest event on the local calendar and one of the largest arts festivals in the country.<\/p>\nHistory<\/h2>\n
South Carolina organized Charleston County on 1 January 1800, from the earlier Charleston District, and named it for King Charles II of England, whose 1663 charter granted the Carolina colony. Charleston itself, founded in 1670 as Charles Town, was the fourth-largest city in British North America by the mid-1700s and the busiest port for the transatlantic slave trade in the United States, a history the International African American Museum on the Charleston waterfront now documents directly.<\/p>\n
The Confederacy fired the first shots of the Civil War at Fort Sumter, in Charleston Harbor, on 12 April 1861. The city changed hands again in the 20th century as a naval hub: the Charleston Navy Yard, opened in 1901 at what is now North Charleston, drove decades of shipbuilding and repair work before the Navy closed the base in 1996, reshaping the local economy toward the aerospace and logistics sectors that dominate it today.<\/p>\n
Getting There<\/h2>\n
Interstate 26<\/strong> runs northwest from downtown Charleston toward Columbia, and Interstate 526<\/strong> loops around North Charleston, West Ashley and Mount Pleasant. US 17<\/strong> follows the coast through Mount Pleasant and McClellanville; US 52<\/strong> and US 78<\/strong> both terminate in downtown Charleston.<\/p>\n\n- Summerville — 25 miles northwest<\/li>\n
- Beaufort — 65 miles southwest<\/li>\n
- Georgetown — 60 miles northeast<\/li>\n
- Columbia — 105 miles northwest<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Charleston International Airport (CHS), in North Charleston, is the county’s commercial airport. The Amtrak station is also in North Charleston, on the Silver Meteor and Palmetto routes between New York and Florida.<\/p>\n