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South Carolina's population growth


CorgiMatt

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In the 2000 Census, Columbia had about 116k people. Charleston had 96k. Since then, Columbia has remained larger and added more people than Charleston, even though Charleston has annexed more aggressively. While Charleston has closed the gap to less than 10,000 people, I am surprised that it has not passed Columbia by now in terms of the city's population.

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In the 2000 Census, Columbia had about 116k people. Charleston had 96k. Since then, Columbia has remained larger and added more people than Charleston, even though Charleston has annexed more aggressively. While Charleston has closed the gap to less than 10,000 people, I am surprised that it has not passed Columbia by now in terms of the city's population.

Columbia added around 13,000 between 2000 and 2010.  Charleston added 24,000 in that period, going from 96,000 to 120,000.  Columbia is now estimated to have 131,000 and Charleston 125,000.   If the trend since 2010 continued, Charleston would pass Columbia in about 4 years.    

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  • 7 months later...

From the Charlotte Observer:

 

 

 

• Mount Pleasant, S.C., outside of Charleston, had a 4.1 percent growth rate last year, the biggest rate in the Carolinas for places with 50,000 or more people, and ninth-greatest nationwide for larger towns or cities. Communities in the South and the West dominated the list of those fastest-growing places.
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  • 6 months later...

Columbia added around 13,000 between 2000 and 2010.  Charleston added 24,000 in that period, going from 96,000 to 120,000.  Columbia is now estimated to have 131,000 and Charleston 125,000.   If the trend since 2010 continued, Charleston would pass Columbia in about 4 years.    

I think we will see Columbia's (city) growth rate accelerate in 2014 - 2016 with all of the downtown housing projects newly open, under construction and planned. I predict we will exceed 140,000 by the 2017 estimates, if not by 2016.

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  • 3 months later...

Here's a link to the Census page where you can find Metro Population Estimates, Change from 2010-2014, and Change from 2013-2014 (both w/rankings).

 

Greenville MSA      862,463

Columbia MSA        800,495

Charleston MSA     727,689

Myrtle Beach MSA  417,668

Spartanburg MSA   321,418

 

Can anyone explain to me the reason for the rapid growth in the Myrtle Beach area? Is it just retirees? Does the area have any economic drivers besides tourism?

Edited by westsider28
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Here's a link to the Census page where you can find Metro Population Estimates, Change from 2010-2014, and Change from 2013-2014 (both w/rankings).

 

Greenville MSA      862,463

Columbia MSA        800,495

Charleston MSA     727,689

Myrtle Beach MSA  417,668

Spartanburg MSA   321,418

 

Can anyone explain to me the reason for the rapid growth in the Myrtle Beach area? Is it just retirees? Does the area have any economic drivers besides tourism?

Retirees.

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County population estimates for 2014, NC and SC.  Mecklenburg hits 1 million.  Wake barely under 1 million.

 

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article16319840.html

The other news for Mecklenburg is the rate of growth for this time period, over 10%...........not bad for a county of 1m residents.

 

For other SC Counties.........the Charlotte metro counties are also "killing it".  York is growing at 8.53% and Lancaster is growing at 8.5%.

 

Metro wise, Charlotte and Charleston are both well above 7% while Greenville and Columbia are in the same 4.50% range. Charlotte is now the 22nd largest metro in the country (2.4m residents), just passing Pittsburgh. 

 

Growth in the coastal area is mainly driven by retirees.

Edited by clt29301
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  • 1 month later...

The Charleston metro area is the second fastest growing mid-sized metro in the country since 2010.  It's growth rate of 2.16% per year is bettered only by Cape Coral, FL.  Greenville is the fastest growing of the 10 largest mid-sized metros at 1.08% and ranks as 14th fastest growing overall, Columbia is growing 17th fastest and is growing at .99% per year.

 

Of other comparable metros in the region only Durham is growing as fast.  That may be a tag along effect of the growth in Raleigh. 

 

It is possible that all three of the main South Carolina metro areas could pass a million in 10 or 15 years and join the list of major US metro areas.

 

It would have hard to believe that would happen when I was a kid.   It was just a 5 or 10 minute drive from our house to some relatives who were farmers.  And that was real country living.  My grandmother's house was 70 years old and looked like it was 150 years old.  She had a hand operated water pump and cooked on an old wood fired stove.   She heated the place with fireplaces and stoves.    Although... I think she just didn't like new-fangled things.  She had electricity and probably could have have used it more.  She did have a small refrigerator and a few light bulbs in the house.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Here's a link to the Census page where you can find Metro Population Estimates, Change from 2010-2014, and Change from 2013-2014 (both w/rankings).

 

Greenville MSA      862,463

Columbia MSA        800,495

Charleston MSA     727,689

Myrtle Beach MSA  417,668

Spartanburg MSA   321,418

 

Can anyone explain to me the reason for the rapid growth in the Myrtle Beach area? Is it just retirees? Does the area have any economic drivers besides tourism?

 

Retirees and tourism. I honestly don't understand why people want to live there (unless you really like golf).

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  • 2 weeks later...

http://www.cleveland.com/datacentral/index.ssf/2015/05/census_population_estimates_fo.html?appSession=013507919386589

 

2014 census estimates for cities and towns.  

 

Charleston less than 2,000 below Columbia at just over 130,000.

Goose Creek and Hilton Head now over 40,000.

Mount Pleasant at just under 78,000

Rock Hill just under 70,000

Summerville just under 47,000 

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  • 7 months later...

According to the latest Census estimates, SC has leapfrogged Alabama to become the 23rd largest state. From July 2014 - July 2015, SC added an estimated 67K more people. North Carolina Becomes Ninth State with 10 Million Population

However, Alabama still retains a higher GDP figure than SC; SC's rank is 27th nationally. http://www.bea.gov/iTable/drilldown.cfm?reqid=70&stepnum=11&AreaTypeKeyGdp=5&GeoFipsGdp=XX&ClassKeyGdp=NAICS&ComponentKey=200&IndustryKey=1&YearGdp=2015Q2&YearGdpBegin=-1&YearGdpEnd=-1&UnitOfMeasureKeyGdp=Levels&RankKeyGdp=1&Drill=1&nRange=5

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  • 2 months later...

Not surprising. The Lowcountry is going to continue to drive population growth in this state. All of those retirees and half-backs we keep hearing about are starting to show up in droves. They ruined Florida's coast with this same growth pattern. Let's hope Myrtle Beach and Charleston County can follow Beaufort County and the City of Charleston's lead.

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  • 1 month later...

2015 Population Estimates are out for Cities over 50,000.

Columbia goes from 132,365 to 133.803

Charleston goes from 129,829 to 132,609

North Charleston goes from 106,636 to 108,304

Mount Pleasant goes from 77,667 to 81,317

Rock Hill goes from 69,972 to 71,548

Greenville goes from 62,134 to 64,579 

2015 Census Estimates for Incorporated places > 50,000  

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  • 9 months later...

The Charleston metro area gained an estimated 16,552 residents in the 12 months ending July 1, 2016, for a total population of 761,155, the Census Bureau said.

Here's how that growth was shared among the three counties:

  • Berkeley: Gained 8,122, to 210,898.
  • Charleston: Gained 7,193, to 396,484
  • Dorchester: Gained 1,237 to 153,773

Metro was 24th fastest growing in US

24

Charleston-North Charleston, SC

744,603

761,155

16,552

2.2

3,710

9,662

5,952

12,377

11,471

906

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  • 2 months later...

Charleston officially state's largest city

Greenville fastest growing city east of Texas. City limits only of course. 

 

Charleston's estimated population for mid-2016 was 134,385, which was 76 more than Columbia's. 

Greenville's nearly 6 percent population growth spurt in just a year — the fourth-fastest growth nationally — was unexpected in new Census Bureau estimates released Thursday morning. Greenville is South Carolina's sixth-largest city, with an estimated 67,453 residents as of July 1 last year.

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9 hours ago, vicupstate said:

Greenville's nearly 6 percent population growth spurt in just a year — the fourth-fastest growth nationally — was unexpected in new Census Bureau estimates released Thursday morning. Greenville is South Carolina's sixth-largest city, with an estimated 67,453 residents as of July 1 last year.

 

Wow- I'm so used to Greenville hovering just above or below 60,000. It almost holds a shock factor to see it inching toward 70k. It's nice to see the City finally able to capture more growth within its boundaries. I assume this is mostly the result of downtown residential construction and the continued development in the greater Verdae/85 area.

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It's kind of cool to see Charleston reclaim it's status as the state's largest city. City population data are somewhat arbitrary since annexation is affected by politics, but it is interesting to see who is growing the fastest nonetheless.

For Greenville, I'd say a lot of it is downtown growth and likely a resurgence of in-town neighborhoods in close proximity to downtown combined with annexation. Greenville also had the largest raw increase of any city in South Carolina since 2015.

Looking rates statewide since 2010, the place with the highest growth rate is Hardeeville at +87%, adding 2,661 people. They annexed a ton of land that is being developed as we speak. Hardeeville is going to quickly become one of the largest small towns in the state. Of the large cities in SC, Mt Pleasant currently has the highest growth rate at 24%, adding 16,316 people. Next in line are Myrtle Beach, Summerville, Goose Creek, Greenville, Greer, North Charleston, and Charleston.

I took a look at the data and pulled together a couple of charts in Excel comparing 2015-2016 change and 2010-2016 change. These don't reflect rates... just raw number increase. 

scpopchange_2015-2016.thumb.PNG.a0c4b2b06a18237cea40f753519bc5bb.PNGscpopchange_2010-2016.thumb.PNG.8d4cf3e9ee57c09a00e0b4c3c412f7d6.PNG

 

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