Cities in South Carolina by housing units authorized by building permits

North Charleston, SC had the highest housing units authorized by building permits of 39 cities in 2019, at 1,439. Newberry, SC had the lowest, at 2. The median was 213 and the figure for South Carolina was 36,034. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Highest1,439North Charleston, SC

Lowest2Newberry, SC

Median21339 cities

South Carolina36,034History

All cities, 2019

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

Full ranking

Rank	Cities	2019 count	Change on 2018
1	North Charleston, SC Estimated	1,439	+13.3%
2	Bluffton, SC Estimated	1,190	+2%
3	Charleston, SC Estimated	1,188	+2.1%
4	Fort Mill, SC Estimated	1,010	+0.8%
5	Greenville, SC Estimated	933	-12.3%
6	Greer, SC Estimated	851	+47.5%
7	Port Royal, SC Estimated	633	+431.9%
8	Mount Pleasant, SC Estimated	547	-48.4%
9	Myrtle Beach, SC Estimated	525	-4.5%
10	Hardeeville, SC Estimated	499	+35.6%
11	Columbia, SC Estimated	474	-0.6%
12	Hanahan, SC Estimated	464	-1.3%
13	Rock Hill, SC Estimated	433	+73.2%
14	Simpsonville, SC Estimated	421	-20.7%
15	Florence, SC Estimated	382	+92%
16	Goose Creek, SC Estimated	363	+26.5%
17	North Myrtle Beach, SC Estimated	294	-9.8%
18	Conway, SC Estimated	248	-35.8%
19	Lexington, SC Estimated	220	-12.7%
20	Summerville, SC Estimated	213	-27.6%
21	Fountain Inn, SC Estimated	187	+5.1%
22	Moncks Corner, SC Estimated	175	-26.8%
23	Clemson, SC Estimated	172	-26.8%
24	Easley, SC Estimated	169	+53.6%
25	North Augusta, SC Estimated	166	-10.3%
26	Aiken, SC Estimated	135	+25%
27	Anderson, SC Estimated	120	-22.1%
28	Tega Cay, SC Estimated	110	-35.3%
29	Hilton Head Island, SC Estimated	105	-53.7%
30	Mauldin, SC Estimated	102	+17.2%
31	West Columbia, SC Estimated	95	+239.3%
32	York, SC Estimated	88	+11.4%
33	Beaufort, SC Estimated	74	+4.2%
34	Forest Acres, SC Estimated	38	+52%
35	Spartanburg, SC Estimated	29	+3.6%
36	Cayce, SC Estimated	12	+71.4%
37	Gaffney, SC Estimated	4	-93.4%
38	Orangeburg, SC Estimated	3	0%
39	Newberry, SC Estimated	2	+100%

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/so2019a.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. (2020). 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, 2019) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2019a.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, 2019. U.S. Census Bureau, 1 May 2020, https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2019a.txt. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/south-carolina-cities?period=2019. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Census Bureau. 2020. 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, 2019. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2019a.txt. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/south-carolina-cities?period=2019.

Harvard

U.S. Census Bureau (2020) 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, 2019 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2019a.txt, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/south-carolina-cities?period=2019 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{census_cities_in_south_carolina_2019,
  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, 2019}},
  year = {2020},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2019a.txt},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/south-carolina-cities?period=2019. 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/so2019a.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, 2019
PY  - 2020
DA  - 2020/05/01
PB  - U.S. Census Bureau
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/Place/South%20Region/so2019a.txt
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/south-carolina-cities?period=2019
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/building-permit-housing-units/south-carolina-cities?period=2019.
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/so2019a.txt. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -

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Questions

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

North Charleston, SC, with 1,439 in 2019, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

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

Newberry, SC, with 2 in 2019.

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.