Cities in South Carolina by housing units authorized by building permits, 2025

Columbia, SC had the highest housing units authorized by building permits of 39 cities in 2025, at 1,956. Forest Acres, SC had the lowest, at 2. The median was 243 and the figure for South Carolina was 45,862. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Highest1,956Columbia, SC

Lowest2Forest Acres, SC

Median24339 cities

South Carolina45,862History

All cities, 2025

count. Source: Invokely calculation with data from U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

Rank	Cities	2025 count	Change on 2024
1	Columbia, SC Estimated	1,956	-8.9%
2	Hardeeville, SC Estimated	1,718	+27.7%
3	Charleston, SC Estimated	1,311	+14.6%
4	North Charleston, SC Estimated	1,088	-35.9%
5	North Myrtle Beach, SC Estimated	967	+41.4%
6	Fort Mill, SC Estimated	897	-15.9%
7	Mauldin, SC Estimated	802	+5.5%
8	Greenville, SC Estimated	766	+89.6%
9	Rock Hill, SC Estimated	664	+106.9%
10	Conway, SC Estimated	560	+36.3%
11	North Augusta, SC Estimated	517	-0.2%
12	Bluffton, SC Estimated	506	+52.9%
13	Summerville, SC Estimated	489	+106.3%
14	Florence, SC Estimated	436	+19.5%
15	Goose Creek, SC Estimated	426	-15.3%
16	Greer, SC Estimated	409	-72.5%
17	York, SC Estimated	387	+4%
18	Fountain Inn, SC Estimated	340	-15.4%
19	Anderson, SC Estimated	274	+65.1%
20	Moncks Corner, SC Estimated	243	-69.5%
21	Mount Pleasant, SC Estimated	240	+14.3%
22	Easley, SC Estimated	214	-38%
23	Hilton Head Island, SC Estimated	208	+79.3%
24	Simpsonville, SC Estimated	197	+38.7%
25	Myrtle Beach, SC Estimated	189	-4.5%
26	Aiken, SC Estimated	134	-84.9%
27	Beaufort, SC Estimated	125	-83.3%
27	Gaffney, SC Estimated	125	+127.3%
29	West Columbia, SC Estimated	118	+100%
30	Tega Cay, SC Estimated	88	-20%
31	Lexington, SC Estimated	67	-60.1%
32	Cayce, SC Estimated	63	+950%
33	Clemson, SC Estimated	48	-84.7%
34	Hanahan, SC Estimated	41	-57.7%
35	Orangeburg, SC Estimated	33	+65%
35	Spartanburg, SC Estimated	33	-10.8%
37	Port Royal, SC Estimated	20	+185.7%
38	Newberry, SC Estimated	14	+366.7%
39	Forest Acres, SC Estimated	2	-75%

Other periods

About this ranking

Number of new privately owned housing units authorized by building permits in the year or month, from the US Census Bureau Building Permits Survey. Annual totals for the nation, states and counties; monthly counts for the nation and states.

Counts housing units, not buildings, starts, completions or sales. Monthly counts are not seasonally adjusted and do not add up exactly to the annual total, which includes later corrections; the national seasonally adjusted annual rate in the monthly New Residential Construction release is a different measure.

Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the cities are compared on one definition. Equal values share a rank.

How to cite

U.S. Census Bureau. Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation. https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2025a.txt. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Citation styles

The publisher is the author. Invokely is named only as the place the figures were read, where a style asks for it.

APA 7

U.S. Census Bureau. (2026). Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation (Cities in South Carolina by housing units authorized by building permits, 2025) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2025a.txt

MLA 9

Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation, Cities in South Carolina by housing units authorized by building permits, 2025. U.S. Census Bureau, 14 May 2026, https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2025a.txt. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/south-carolina-cities. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Census Bureau. 2026. Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation. Cities in South Carolina by housing units authorized by building permits, 2025. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2025a.txt. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/south-carolina-cities.

Harvard

U.S. Census Bureau (2026) Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation, Cities in South Carolina by housing units authorized by building permits, 2025 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2025a.txt, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/south-carolina-cities (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{census_cities_in_south_carolina_2025,
  author = {{U.S. Census Bureau}},
  title = {{Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation: Cities in South Carolina by housing units authorized by building permits, 2025}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2025a.txt},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/south-carolina-cities. Publisher attribution: U.S. Census Bureau. Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation. https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South\%20Region/so2025a.txt. Retrieved 2026-10-12.},
}

RIS

TY  - DATA
AU  - U.S. Census Bureau
TI  - Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation: Cities in South Carolina by housing units authorized by building permits, 2025
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/05/14
PB  - U.S. Census Bureau
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2025a.txt
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/south-carolina-cities
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/south-carolina-cities.
N1  - Publisher attribution: U.S. Census Bureau. Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation. https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2025a.txt. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -

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Rank Cities in South Carolina by housing units authorized by building permits using official data, and cite the source.

rank_places {"indicator":"building_permit_units","level":"municipality","within":"South Carolina","limit":10}
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Questions

Which city has the highest housing units authorized by building permits?

Columbia, SC, with 1,956 in 2025, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Which city has the lowest housing units authorized by building permits?

Forest Acres, SC, with 2 in 2025.

Where does this ranking come from?

Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: U.S. Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey: final annual estimates of new privately owned housing units authorized by permit-issuing place, including imputation. Retrieved 2026-10-12.