Data / Rankings / Population / Cities in South Carolina

Cities in South Carolina by population

Charleston, SC had the highest population of 43 cities in 2022, at 154,665. York, SC had the lowest, at 8,694. The median was 25,153 and the figure for South Carolina was 5.29 million. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Highest154,665Charleston, SC
Lowest8,694York, SC
Median25,15343 cities
South Carolina5,288,957History

All cities, 2022

Charleston, SC: 154,665 personsCharleston, SC154,665Columbia, SC: 139,381 personsColumbia, SC139,381North Charleston, SC: 118,860 personsNorth Charleston, SC118,860Mount Pleasant, SC: 94,709 personsMount Pleasant, SC94,709Rock Hill, SC: 75,225 personsRock Hill, SC75,225Greenville, SC: 72,972 personsGreenville, SC72,972Summerville, SC: 51,589 personsSummerville, SC51,589Goose Creek, SC: 47,823 personsGoose Creek, SC47,823Sumter, SC: 42,888 personsSumter, SC42,888Greer, SC: 42,212 personsGreer, SC42,212Florence, SC: 40,164 personsFlorence, SC40,164Spartanburg, SC: 38,693 personsSpartanburg, SC38,693Myrtle Beach, SC: 38,499 personsMyrtle Beach, SC38,499Hilton Head Island, SC: 38,073 personsHilton Head Island, SC38,073Bluffton, SC: 34,405 personsBluffton, SC34,405Aiken, SC: 32,421 personsAiken, SC32,421Fort Mill, SC: 30,846 personsFort Mill, SC30,846Anderson, SC: 30,048 personsAnderson, SC30,048Conway, SC: 27,521 personsConway, SC27,521Mauldin, SC: 26,935 personsMauldin, SC26,935Simpsonville, SC: 26,814 personsSimpsonville, SC26,814North Augusta, SC: 25,153 personsNorth Augusta, SC25,153Lexington, SC: 24,705 personsLexington, SC24,705Easley, SC: 24,524 personsEasley, SC24,524Greenwood, SC: 22,449 personsGreenwood, SC22,449Hanahan, SC: 21,496 personsHanahan, SC21,496North Myrtle Beach, SC: 19,902 personsNorth Myrtle Beach, SC19,902Clemson, SC: 17,908 personsClemson, SC17,908West Columbia, SC: 17,785 personsWest Columbia, SC17,785Port Royal, SC: 15,832 personsPort Royal, SC15,832Moncks Corner, SC: 15,299 personsMoncks Corner, SC15,299Beaufort, SC: 13,776 personsBeaufort, SC13,776Cayce, SC: 13,720 personsCayce, SC13,720Tega Cay, SC: 13,601 personsTega Cay, SC13,601Orangeburg, SC: 13,377 personsOrangeburg, SC13,377Gaffney, SC: 12,460 personsGaffney, SC12,460James Island, SC: 12,146 personsJames Island, SC12,146Irmo, SC: 11,843 personsIrmo, SC11,843Fountain Inn, SC: 11,762 personsFountain Inn, SC11,762Newberry, SC: 10,771 personsNewberry, SC10,771Forest Acres, SC: 10,502 personsForest Acres, SC10,502Hardeeville, SC: 10,313 personsHardeeville, SC10,313York, SC: 8,694 personsYork, SC8,694
persons. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Annual estimates of the resident population for incorporated places, 1 July (Population Estimates Program, subcounty totals). Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

RankCities2022
persons		Change on 2021
1Charleston, SC154,665+1.5%
2Columbia, SC139,381+2.4%
3North Charleston, SC118,860+1%
4Mount Pleasant, SC94,709+1.9%
5Rock Hill, SC75,225+0.8%
6Greenville, SC72,972+0.3%
7Summerville, SC51,589+0.7%
8Goose Creek, SC47,823+2.1%
9Sumter, SC42,888-0.9%
10Greer, SC42,212+8.3%
11Florence, SC40,164+0.4%
12Spartanburg, SC38,693+0.6%
13Myrtle Beach, SC38,499+4%
14Hilton Head Island, SC38,073+1.1%
15Bluffton, SC34,405+8.5%
16Aiken, SC32,421+0.4%
17Fort Mill, SC30,846+10.4%
18Anderson, SC30,048+1.4%
19Conway, SC27,521+7%
20Mauldin, SC26,935+4.8%
21Simpsonville, SC26,814+8.2%
22North Augusta, SC25,153+1.6%
23Lexington, SC24,705+1.3%
24Easley, SC24,524+4.9%
25Greenwood, SC22,449+0.2%
26Hanahan, SC21,496+0.4%
27North Myrtle Beach, SC19,902+2.8%
28Clemson, SC17,908-0.1%
29West Columbia, SC17,785+0.6%
30Port Royal, SC15,832+5.5%
31Moncks Corner, SC15,299+11.5%
32Beaufort, SC13,776-0.3%
33Cayce, SC13,720-0.5%
34Tega Cay, SC13,601+3%
35Orangeburg, SC13,377+3.5%
36Gaffney, SC12,460-0.9%
37James Island, SC12,146+0.9%
38Irmo, SC11,843+1.3%
39Fountain Inn, SC11,762+6.8%
40Newberry, SC10,771+0.5%
41Forest Acres, SC10,502-0.8%
42Hardeeville, SC10,313+16.1%
43York, SC8,694+0.1%

Other periods

About this ranking

Resident population. Spain and the EU: 1 January, with Spanish figures from the official municipal register (Padrón). Norway: Statistics Norway, 1 January. Iceland and its municipalities: Statistics Iceland, 1 January. United States: Census Bureau population estimates for 1 July. United Kingdom regions and local authorities: Office for National Statistics estimates for 30 June. Other countries and the World: World Bank mid-year estimates, which count all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship. UN World Population Prospects estimates for 1 July cover the years before 1960 and the areas the World Bank does not publish, such as Taiwan.

The World Bank series exists for every country, so use it (through compare) to rank countries on one basis.

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. Annual estimates of the resident population for incorporated places, 1 July (Population Estimates Program, subcounty totals). https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest/datasets/2020-2025/. 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). Annual estimates of the resident population for incorporated places, 1 July (Population Estimates Program, subcounty totals) (Cities in South Carolina by population, 2022) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest/datasets/2020-2025/

MLA 9

Annual estimates of the resident population for incorporated places, 1 July (Population Estimates Program, subcounty totals), Cities in South Carolina by population, 2022. U.S. Census Bureau, 14 May 2026, https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest/datasets/2020-2025/. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/population/south-carolina-cities?period=2022. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Census Bureau. 2026. Annual estimates of the resident population for incorporated places, 1 July (Population Estimates Program, subcounty totals). Cities in South Carolina by population, 2022. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest/datasets/2020-2025/. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/population/south-carolina-cities?period=2022.

Harvard

U.S. Census Bureau (2026) Annual estimates of the resident population for incorporated places, 1 July (Population Estimates Program, subcounty totals), Cities in South Carolina by population, 2022 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest/datasets/2020-2025/, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/population/south-carolina-cities?period=2022 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{census_cities_in_south_carolina_2022,
  author = {{U.S. Census Bureau}},
  title = {{Annual estimates of the resident population for incorporated places, 1 July (Population Estimates Program, subcounty totals): Cities in South Carolina by population, 2022}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest/datasets/2020-2025/},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/population/south-carolina-cities?period=2022. Publisher attribution: U.S. Census Bureau. Annual estimates of the resident population for incorporated places, 1 July (Population Estimates Program, subcounty totals). https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest/datasets/2020-2025/. Retrieved 2026-10-12.},
}
RIS
TY  - DATA
AU  - U.S. Census Bureau
TI  - Annual estimates of the resident population for incorporated places, 1 July (Population Estimates Program, subcounty totals): Cities in South Carolina by population, 2022
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/05/14
PB  - U.S. Census Bureau
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest/datasets/2020-2025/
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/population/south-carolina-cities?period=2022
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/population/south-carolina-cities?period=2022.
N1  - Publisher attribution: U.S. Census Bureau. Annual estimates of the resident population for incorporated places, 1 July (Population Estimates Program, subcounty totals). https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest/datasets/2020-2025/. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -
Embed this chart

Paste this code into a web page or a blog post. The chart shows the latest figures as they are published, with the source and a link back to this page.

Sites that read oEmbed links, such as WordPress, can show the chart when you paste the link to this page.

Use this data in your AI agent

Invokely serves this figure to AI assistants through MCP and to code through a REST API, with the source and citation attached. Ask your assistant:

Rank Cities in South Carolina by population using official data, and cite the source.
rank_places {"indicator":"population","level":"municipality","within":"South Carolina","limit":10}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/rank?indicator=population&level=municipality&within=South%20Carolina&limit=10

Connect Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor in one step. The trial answers 25 calls a day without an account.

Questions

Which city has the highest population?

Charleston, SC, with 154,665 in 2022, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Which city has the lowest population?

York, SC, with 8,694 in 2022.

Where does this ranking come from?

Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: U.S. Census Bureau, Annual estimates of the resident population for incorporated places, 1 July (Population Estimates Program, subcounty totals). Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Population: other rankings

Cities in South Carolina: more rankings