For the first time, the federal government has counted how many households have an electric car, and the Charleston area lands in the middle of the pack.

About 15,800 of the region’s 376,100 households had at least one electric vehicle in 2025, or 4.2%, according to American Community Survey estimates the Census Bureau released Oct. 29. The figure has a margin of error of 0.75 percentage points.

Nationally, about 7.3 million households, or 5.5%, had one, the bureau reported. South Carolina’s share was 3.2%, 32nd-highest among the 50 states and the District of Columbia by the survey’s estimates, according to a Charleston Business Report analysis of the new estimates. California led at 13.8%.

The 2025 survey was the first to ask about electric vehicles. Households with at least one vehicle kept at home were asked whether the household owned or leased one, and the count includes both all-electric cars and plug-in hybrids, the bureau said.

Where Charleston ranks

By the survey’s estimates, the Charleston-North Charleston metro area ranked 123rd of 393 U.S. metro areas, the analysis found. The San Jose, Calif., area led with 23.8%.

Among Southeastern metros, Charleston’s share was higher than the Columbia area’s 2.6% and lower than the Raleigh area’s 6.5% and the Atlanta area’s 6%. Its differences with the Charlotte, Jacksonville, Savannah, Myrtle Beach and Greenville areas were within the survey’s margins of error.

Estimated share of households with an electric vehicle in 2025:

  • Raleigh: 6.5%
  • Atlanta: 6%
  • United States: 5.5%
  • Charlotte: 5%
  • Jacksonville: 4.5%
  • Savannah: 4.4%
  • Charleston: 4.2%
  • Myrtle Beach: 3.9%
  • Greenville: 3.5%
  • South Carolina: 3.2%
  • Columbia: 2.6%

Charleston County leads the region

Within the region, the cars are concentrated in Charleston County. About 10,900 of its 202,300 households, or 5.4%, had an electric vehicle, a share not statistically different from the nation’s. Charleston and York counties had the highest estimates, about 5.4% each, among the 22 South Carolina counties large enough for one-year estimates.

Charleston County has 54% of the region’s households and 69% of its electric-vehicle households.

The suburban counties trailed. Berkeley County’s share was 3.2%, and Dorchester County’s was 2.2%. Both estimates carry margins of error of about 1.5 points, but each is lower than Charleston County’s by a statistically meaningful amount.

Owners and renters

Homeowners were more likely to have an electric vehicle than renters, as they were nationally. In the region, 4.8% of owner households had one, compared with 2.9% of renter households. Nationally the shares were 6.4% and 3.6%, the bureau said.

Renters make up about a third of the region’s households but about 23% of its electric-vehicle households, the analysis found. In Berkeley and Dorchester counties, about 1% or less of renter households had one, though those estimates rest on small samples.

Solar panels lag

The same survey also counted solar panels for the first time. About 12,200 housing units in the region, or 3%, had them, compared with 2.7% statewide and 5.2% nationally.

The Charleston area’s share was higher than those of the Charlotte, Greenville, Myrtle Beach and Atlanta areas but less than half the Savannah area’s 7.3%. About nine in 10 of the region’s solar-equipped homes were single-family houses.

Ownership again made a difference. About 4.4% of owner-occupied homes in the region had solar panels, compared with less than 1% of rented homes.

A market with local stakes

The federal tax credit of up to $7,500 for new clean vehicles is not available for vehicles acquired after Sept. 30, 2025, according to the Internal Revenue Service.

The region has a stake in that market. Volvo Cars builds its all-electric EX90 SUV at its plant in Ridgeville.

What the numbers don’t show

The survey asked whether a household had any electric vehicle, not how many, so the figures count households rather than cars. It does not separate all-electric cars from plug-in hybrids.

The estimates come from a sample, and the margins of error are large for counties and for renters. The Census Bureau imputed answers for about 9% of the region’s households with a vehicle, its standard practice when a response is missing or inconsistent. The 2025 estimates also cover the full year, so they include months before and after the federal tax credit ended.

How we did this

We used the Census Bureau’s 2025 American Community Survey one-year estimates, released Oct. 29, 2026, downloading tables B25147 and B25148 on electric vehicles, B25144 and B25145 on solar panels, and allocation tables B992527 and B992526 from the bureau’s summary file. We calculated shares and their margins of error with the bureau’s formulas for proportions and tested differences at the 90% confidence level the bureau uses. Metro rankings include the 393 metropolitan areas with published estimates and exclude micropolitan areas. The metro area includes Berkeley, Charleston and Dorchester counties. The national owner and renter shares and California’s share come from the bureau’s Oct. 29 report on the new question; we calculated the other figures.