Discover the 5 Largest Cities in South Carolina in 2024

South Carolina was the eighth state to join the Union and the first to secede from it at the start of the Civil War. This state isn’t very large, at only 32,020 square miles. However, it features a handful of cities that are both beautiful and historic. Here are the five largest cities in South Carolina by population.

1. Charleston, South Carolina

Charleston lies on South Carolina’s Atlantic Coast where the Wando, Ashley, and Cooper Rivers meet. As of 2020, the population of its metropolitan area was 799,636, with 150,277 living in the city proper. In 2024, the in-city population is 153,759.

The city was originally called Charles Town and named for King Charles II of the United Kingdom. He gifted the Province of Carolina to his friends, the Lords Proprietors, in 1663.

Things to See and Do

With a lovely maritime climate, a lot of Charleston’s economy depends on tourism. The daily mean in January, the coldest month, is a little over 50 degrees Fahrenheit, and the average low is 43.6 degrees Fahrenheit. This climate allows evergreen live oaks garlanded with Spanish moss to grow along the city’s boulevards and for tropical flowers to flourish in gardens.

The Gullah people, African Americans who live on the Sea Islands just off the coast, have influenced the state’s culture. Because of the bounty of the nearby ocean and the influence of its ethnic and racial groups, Charleston’s cuisine is singular. It includes all kinds of seafood and dishes featuring the golden rice found in South Carolina’s Low Country.

Museums and History

Museums to visit include the Charleston Museum. Founded in 1773, it is the first museum in America and is actually older than the United States. Other museums include the Powder Magazine, the Gibbes Museum of Art, The Nathaniel Russell House, and the Old Slave Mart. This museum on Chalmers Street is the first museum dedicated to African American history. Charleston, unfortunately, was a major port when it came to the slave trade.

Charleston Harbor is also home to Fort Sumter, where the first shots of the Civil War rang out. Visit Rainbow Row, which sports beautiful, pastel-colored rowhouses, or shop at the Market, where you can see the Daughters of the Confederacy Museum. Other places to check out are the Battery and Waterfront Park.

The Spoleto Festival and Others

Charleston is famously the site of the Spoleto Festival, an art festival held for 17 days in spring. South Carolina’s public radio stations broadcast classical music programs from the festival. The city’s musical heritage also includes the Jenkins Orphanage, whose teachers taught music to the young African American boys who lived there. The resulting band played at Presidential inaugurations and so influenced the establishment of other such music-centered orphanages. They include the one in New Orleans that nurtured Louis Armstrong.

You can also treat yourself to a variety of fairs, festivals, and events such as the Food and Wine Festival, the International Film Festival, and the Festival of Houses and Gardens. Don’t forget to take a ride in a horse-drawn carriage around the Historic District and visit the beautiful City Hall.

Charlestonians do adore their sports teams. Watch the Charleston Battery soccer team, the South Carolina Stingrays, a hockey team, and the minor league baseball team the Charleston RiverDogs. If you love women’s roller derby, catch the Low Country Highrollers.

Charleston’s sister cities include Spoleto, Italy, of course, Doha, Qatar, and Freetown, Sierra Leone.

2. Columbia, South Carolina

Columbia is the seat of Richland County, the state capital, and the home of a number of colleges and universities. They include the University of South Carolina, Columbia College, and the historically black colleges Benedict College and Allen University. The enormous military base Fort Jackson is in Columbia as well.

Where It’s Located in South Carolina

Columbia sits where the Broad River and the Saluda Rivers meet to form the Congaree. Found in the Midlands, it’s only 13 miles from the very center of the state. As of the 2020 census, the population of Columbia was 136,632. The population of its sprawling Metropolitan Statistical Area was 829,470. It’s updated population in 2024 is 138,224.

The city is named after Christopher Columbus, who explored the area in the 15th century. Officials proclaimed it the capital of South Carolina in 1786, largely because of its location near the center of the state. At that time, it was just a village. It wasn’t until 1854 that Columbia became a city.

Things to See and Do

No longer a town that shuts down at sunset, Columbia is a vital, modern city with many places to visit and things to do. Among places to see are the Riverbanks Zoo & Garden, with its farmyard, Boyd Foundation Aquarium, and Reptile House on the east bank of the Saluda River. You’ll also find the South Carolina State Museum, the Columbia Museum of Art, the Hampton-Preston Mansion and Gardens, and Palmetto Falls Water Park. There are too many restaurants to name, but they serve all kinds of cuisine. You’ll find the capital building and the visitor center at Main and Gervais Streets.

Sports and Shopping

To take in a concert or a play, visit the Koger Center of the Arts, the Township Auditorium, the Columbia Marionette Theatre, or the Palmetto Performing Arts Center. Columbians love their sports, and many are fans of the Gamecocks, which is the name not only of the beloved football team but the women’s and the men’s basketball teams. The Williams-Brice Stadium, Colonial Life Arena, Sega Park, Southeastern Freight Lines Soccer Center, and Patton Stadium host their games. If you’re in town in October, don’t forget to visit the South Carolina State Fair. It’s been held every year since 1869 (except for 1918, due to the Spanish Flu).

Columbia also has a nearly endless number of places to shop, and it still boasts a number of sprawling shopping malls. They include Columbiana Centre, Columbia Place Mall, Richland Mall, Dutch Square Center, and the Columbia Northeast Shopping Center.

As for transportation, you’ll find the Greyhound Bus Depot on Buckner Road and the Amtrak station on Pulaski Street. The small but beautiful Columbia Metropolitan Airport serves commercial airlines.

Among Columbia’s seven sister cities are Accra, Ghana and Yibin, China.

3. North Charleston, South Carolina

Though it’s part of the Charleston Metropolitan Area, North Charleston is its own city, and as of 2020, its population was 114,852 (122,726 in 2024). It was incorporated in June of 1972.

The area of North Charleston featured plantations where slaves grew rice and indigo, a plant used for producing vivid blue dye. In present day, many of these plantations have other uses. For example, Elms Plantation is now the home of Charleston Southern University. Three other plantations became the Naval Base and the Naval Shipyard.

Things to See and Do

Attend a sporting event, concert, or other happenings at the North Charleston Coliseum near the airport. You can also stop by the H.L. Hunley Museum at the old Naval base. It’s the home of the Hunley, a submarine that saw action in the Civil War. The famous Jenkins Orphanage moved from Charleston in 1937 to North Charleston’s Azalea Drive. The city is also the home of the Park Circle Film Society.

Parks include Ashley River Park, Central Creek Park, Charleston Air Force Base Military RV Park, Riverfront Park on the Cooper River, and the Magnolia Plantation and Gardens. There are plenty of places to shop, including the Northwoods Mall. As with Charleston, the dining is top notch and for the same reasons.

Charleston International Airport and the Amtrak station serve both Charleston and North Charleston. There’s also a Greyhound Bus Station on College Park Road. If you can, take a drive across the spectacular Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge.

4. Mount Pleasant, South Carolina

Also part of the Charleston Metropolitan Area, Mount Pleasant is known for its beauty. Interestingly, it doubled its population in the decade between 1990 and 2000. As of 2020, 90,801 people lived there (97,135 in 2024). It connects to downtown Charleston by the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge. You’ll find the USS Yorktown at the foot of the bridge. This aircraft carrier in World War II is now a museum.

Mount Pleasant is a peninsula of sorts because it’s bordered on the west by Charleston Harbor, on the north by the Wando River, and on the south by the canal that separates it from Sullivan’s Island. Sullivan’s Island is notorious for its slave trading past. Because of this, nearly every African American in the area descends from someone who was brought to Sullivan’s Island. Scanlonville, a Mount Pleasant neighborhood, is a rare real estate co-op. African Americans own and operate it. Riverside, called a “black beach” because of the state’s stringent segregation laws, was famous as a resort frequented by African Americans during the Jim Crow era.

Things to See and Do

Riverside is no longer open to the public, but parks you can visit include Mount Pleasant Pier, Palmetto Islands County Park, Future Park, and Laurel Hill County Park. Other historic places include the Boone Hall Plantation, Buzzard’s Island City, Christ Church, Oakland Plantation House, and the Old Berkeley County Courthouse. There’s a good number of shopping venues, including the Mount Pleasant Towne Centre and the Belle Hall Shopping Center.

Charleston International Airport serves Mount Pleasant as it does Charleston and North Charleston.

5. Rock Hill, South Carolina

In contrast to Columbia and the Charleston Metropolitan Area, Rock Hill is in the extreme north of South Carolina. It’s in York County, so it’s actually part of the metropolitan area of Charlotte, North Carolina. According to the 2020 census, it had a population of 74,372 (73,937 in 2024). People love Rock Hill for its beauty and its culture. Much of the town lies along the Catawba River.

Rock Hill was founded in 1852 and incorporated in 1892. Basically, officials created it because the Charlotte and South Carolina Railroad needed a railway through the area. At first, the line was going to run close to or through a village called Ebenezerville. The residents of the village protested so the railroad moved the line a few miles away to near a rocky hill. The town got its name because of this.

Things to See and Do

Like many towns in South Carolina, Rock Hill has a downtown which is mostly a single thoroughfare and lined with buildings only a few stories high. In the case of Rock Hill, you’ll find 12 buildings standing side by side. They house four churches, the Old Post Office Building, the new Post Office Building, a hotel, the Citizens Bank, and retail stores. These historic buildings were raised between 1870 and 1931.

Every spring the city hosts the Come See Me Festival, where people simply gather to have fun, listen to music, eat the food, and enjoy the beauty of the spring blossoms. There’s something called the Underexposed Film Festival, and you’ll also enjoy yourself at the ChristmasVille, Rock Hill event and the Blues and Jazz Festival. Among the museums you can visit are the Museum of York County, which specializes in natural history, the Rock Hill Fire Museum, the Center for the Arts, and White Home. The White Family, one of the pre-eminent families of Rock Hill, owned the house. They lived there from 1837 until surprisingly recently (2005).

Rock Hill Parks include Manchester Meadows, the Riverwalk and Rock Hill Outdoor Center, Westminster Park, which lies right on the Catawba, Cherry Park, Glencairn Garden, and Ebenezer Park.

Rock Hill and the NFL

When it comes to professional sports, Rock Hill claims that no other city produces more NFL Players. Among them are Jadeveon Clowney, Jaleel Scott, Benjamin Watson, Derion Kendrick, Gerald Dixon, and Cordarrelle Patterson. The city also hosts the United States Disc Golf Championship and the U.S. Youth Soccer National Championships. Its premier college team is the Winthrop University Eagles.

If you want to get in or out of Rock Hill, you can use the municipal Rock Hill/York County Airport. You can also travel 20 miles north to the Charlotte-Douglas International Airport, one of the country’s busiest. Interstate highways I-77 and I-85 take you right to the city.