North Charleston, SC population, income and ZIP codes

North Charleston city is a mid-size city in South Carolina, with 117,460 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #3 of 475 ranked by population — larger than 99% of them. The median age here is 34.3 years against 39.1 nationally, a slightly younger profile than the country as a whole. At this size the Census also publishes one-year estimates; the five-year values used here are steadier and let you compare against smaller neighbours on the same basis.

Households in North Charleston city earn a median of $62,789 a year, 20.1% below the national figure of $78,538 and 18% above the $53,071 median for the 263 South Carolina cities we cover. Household income here is measured before tax and pooled across everyone at the address, which is why it reads higher than typical individual earnings in the same area. Poverty reaches 15.5% of residents here, above the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in North Charleston city is valued at $267,700, 11.8% below the national figure and 51% above the $177,100 peer median, while median gross rent runs $1,364 a month, 3% below the national figure, or roughly $16,368 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 26.1% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is within the standard affordability guideline. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 4.3×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so buying is harder here than in the average US market. 48.5% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, so the market leans more heavily on renters. The rent line includes utilities paid by the tenant, a definition worth remembering when comparing it against a landlord's quoted rate.

No figure on this page is estimated by us; each one comes straight from the published ACS tables for this area. Small-area estimates still carry wider margins of error than state or national figures, so check the linked ACS tables before relying on them for lending, appraisal or legal work.