Cities in South Carolina by housing units authorized by building permits

Mount Pleasant, SC had the highest housing units authorized by building permits of 38 cities in 2017, at 1,675. Orangeburg, SC had the lowest, at 3. The median was 238 and the figure for South Carolina was 35,521. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Highest1,675Mount Pleasant, SC

Lowest3Orangeburg, SC

Median23838 cities

South Carolina35,521History

All cities, 2017

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

Full ranking

Rank	Cities	2017 count	Change on 2016
1	Mount Pleasant, SC Estimated	1,675	+8.1%
2	North Charleston, SC Estimated	1,534	+100%
3	Charleston, SC Estimated	1,069	+2.6%
4	Bluffton, SC Estimated	1,036	+16.3%
5	Fort Mill, SC Estimated	921	+0.3%
6	Myrtle Beach, SC Estimated	767	+83.5%
7	Fountain Inn, SC Estimated	561	+552.3%
8	Rock Hill, SC Estimated	551	+199.5%
9	Conway, SC Estimated	458	+21.8%
10	Greer, SC Estimated	429	-47.6%
11	Hanahan, SC Estimated	428	-29.7%
12	North Augusta, SC Estimated	403	+65.2%
13	Simpsonville, SC Estimated	395	+20.8%
14	Columbia, SC Estimated	349	+39%
15	North Myrtle Beach, SC Estimated	316	+11.3%
16	Moncks Corner, SC Estimated	267	+2.7%
17	Goose Creek, SC Estimated	266	+26.7%
18	West Columbia, SC Estimated	261	+252.7%
19	Clemson, SC Estimated	252	-51%
20	Summerville, SC Estimated	223	-58.7%
21	Greenville, SC Estimated	213	-71.9%
22	Hardeeville, SC Estimated	208	-0.5%
23	Lexington, SC Estimated	194	+32.9%
24	Tega Cay, SC Estimated	193	+48.5%
25	Port Royal, SC Estimated	169	+207.3%
26	Aiken, SC Estimated	166	+9.2%
27	Hilton Head Island, SC Estimated	142	+20.3%
28	Easley, SC Estimated	96	-69.2%
29	Anderson, SC Estimated	76	+5.6%
30	Gaffney, SC Estimated	66	+3,200%
31	Beaufort, SC Estimated	43	+22.9%
32	York, SC Estimated	32	-15.8%
33	Mauldin, SC Estimated	30	-26.8%
34	Spartanburg, SC Estimated	25	+13.6%
35	Forest Acres, SC Estimated	14	-6.7%
36	Cayce, SC Estimated	8	-82.2%
37	Newberry, SC Estimated	6	+20%
38	Orangeburg, SC Estimated	3	+50%

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. 1 cities with data in other periods have no value for 2017 and are left out rather than filled from another source. 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/so2017a.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. (2018). 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, 2017) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2017a.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, 2017. U.S. Census Bureau, 1 May 2018, https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2017a.txt. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/south-carolina-cities?period=2017. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Census Bureau. 2018. 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, 2017. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2017a.txt. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/south-carolina-cities?period=2017.

Harvard

U.S. Census Bureau (2018) 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, 2017 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2017a.txt, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/south-carolina-cities?period=2017 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{census_cities_in_south_carolina_2017,
  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, 2017}},
  year = {2018},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2017a.txt},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/south-carolina-cities?period=2017. 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/so2017a.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, 2017
PY  - 2018
DA  - 2018/05/01
PB  - U.S. Census Bureau
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2017a.txt
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/south-carolina-cities?period=2017
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/south-carolina-cities?period=2017.
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/so2017a.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?

Mount Pleasant, SC, with 1,675 in 2017, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

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

Orangeburg, SC, with 3 in 2017.

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. 1 cities have no value for 2017 and are not ranked.