Few large metro areas draw people from other states the way the Charleston area does, and about half of the newcomers are young adults.
About 42,400 residents of Berkeley, Charleston and Dorchester counties in 2025 had lived in a different state a year earlier, according to American Community Survey estimates the Census Bureau released Oct. 29. That is 4.8% of the region’s population, with a margin of error of 0.7 percentage points.
Nationally, 2.1% of residents had moved from another state. Statewide, the share was 3.8%.
Among the 110 U.S. metro areas with at least 500,000 residents, Charleston’s estimated share was second only to Colorado Springs, Colo., at 5.8%, according to a Charleston Business Report analysis of the new estimates. The difference between the two was within the survey’s margin of error, as were Charleston’s differences with the next three, the Killeen-Temple, Texas; Pensacola, Fla.; and Virginia Beach, Va., areas.
Several metros near the top of the list, including Colorado Springs and Killeen-Temple, are home to large military bases, where service members transfer often. Charleston has a military presence too, at Joint Base Lindsey Graham, but the survey’s tables don’t show how many newcomers came for military assignments.
Ahead of the region’s rivals
The Charleston area’s share was higher than those of the other Southeastern metros below, by margins larger than the survey’s error.
Share of residents who lived in a different state a year earlier, 2025:
- Charleston: 4.8%
- Greenville: 3.5%
- Charlotte: 3.1%
- Savannah: 3.1%
- Jacksonville: 3.1%
- Nashville: 2.8%
- Raleigh: 2.8%
- Columbia: 2.6%
- United States: 2.1%
Two smaller coastal metros in South Carolina drew similar or larger shares: 8.6% in the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton area and 5.4% in the Myrtle Beach area.
The 2025 share was not significantly different from 2024’s, 4.3%, the analysis found. It was 5.4% in 2022.
Younger than the region
About half of the newcomers, an estimated 22,700, were 18 to 34, the analysis found. That age group makes up less than a quarter of the region’s population. Nationally, 18- to 34-year-olds made up 48% of people who moved between states.
Only about 8.5% of the region’s newcomers were 65 or older, compared with 18% of all residents.
About 51% of newcomers 25 and older had at least a bachelor’s degree, compared with 44% of all residents in that age group, though the difference is within the margin of error.
Their incomes were in line with the region’s. The median income of newcomers 15 and older who had income was about $50,300, compared with about $49,600 for residents who lived in the same home a year earlier. The difference is within the margin of error.
About 22,000 people in Charleston County had moved from another state. An estimated 62% of those 25 and older had at least a bachelor’s degree, and their median income was about $58,700, though both estimates carry wide margins of error, about 13 percentage points and $11,800.
Berkeley County drew about 14,000, a similar share of its population. About 35% of its newcomers were 18 to 24, and 33% of those 25 and older had at least a bachelor’s degree, about the same as Berkeley County’s population overall. The bureau’s one-year tables did not include Dorchester County figures for this measure.
Most newcomers rent
Newcomers are far more likely to rent. About 58% of those living in households were in rented homes, the analysis found. Among all residents, the share was 27%.
Rents rose quickly, too. The region’s median gross rent, which includes utilities, was $1,855 a month in 2025, up 8.2% from $1,714 a year earlier, a statistically significant increase. Nationally, the median rose 4.7%, to $1,557.
By the survey’s estimates, Charleston had the 14th-fastest increase and the 21st-highest median among the 110 large metros. Statewide, the median was $1,395.
The median value of owner-occupied homes in the region was $429,100, essentially unchanged from $430,300 in 2024.
Median household income in the region was $93,054, up from $90,307. The increase was within the margin of error. Nationally, the median was $84,780.
What the numbers don’t show
The survey counts people who arrived, not those who left, so it does not measure net migration. These tables also don’t show which states newcomers came from; the bureau publishes state-to-state flows separately.
The estimates come from a sample, and margins of error are wide for counties and for small groups. The population counted includes people in group housing, such as college dormitories and barracks; about 3,900 of the region’s newcomers lived in such quarters.
How we did this
We used the Census Bureau’s 2025 American Community Survey one-year estimates, released Oct. 29, 2026, and the 2022 through 2024 one-year estimates, downloading tables from the bureau’s summary files. Table B07001 gives residents by where they lived a year earlier and by age; B07009 gives the same by education, B07011 by median income and B07013 by whether the household owns or rents. Rents, home values and household incomes come from tables B25064, B25077 and B19013. We calculated shares and margins of error with the bureau’s formulas and tested differences at the 90% confidence level the bureau uses. Rankings include the 110 metropolitan areas with at least 500,000 residents age 1 and older. The metro area includes Berkeley, Charleston and Dorchester counties.
