† Citizen voting-age population estimated for prior cycles; 2004 predates the ACS and is extrapolated. Source: ACS 5-year, table B05003.
——
D+60R+60
6 counties by 2024 margin · County returns · MIT Election Lab
People and households
Who lives here
Exact values for this place, its state, and the United States.
Race · ethnicity · ancestry
Communities and origins
GroupCharleston, SCSouth CarolinaUnited States
English13.0%12.1%9.5%
German10.0%9.4%12.5%
Irish9.6%9.1%9.4%
American7.8%8.2%5.3%
Italian4.0%3.4%4.8%
Scottish2.3%2.1%1.3%
French2.0%1.1%1.6%
Polish1.8%—2.2%
African American†24.2%23.4%9.9%
African0.6%0.6%0.5%
Jamaican0.2%0.2%0.4%
Mexican3.3%3.4%11.3%
Puerto Rican1.0%1.0%1.8%
Honduran0.4%0.4%0.3%
Cuban0.3%0.3%0.7%
Guatemalan0.2%0.3%0.5%
Spaniard0.2%——
Filipino0.6%0.3%0.9%
Asian Indian0.4%0.5%1.4%
Chinese0.3%0.2%1.3%
Vietnamese0.2%0.2%0.6%
Hispanic or Latino counts residents of any race; the race groups count only their non-Hispanic residents, so the groups are mutually exclusive and sum to 100%. Expand a row to see ancestries reported within that group.
Age and life stage
Measure
Charleston, SC
South Carolina
United States
Median age
39.5
40.5
39.1
Age 18–24
8.3%
9.1%
9.2%
Age 65 and older
17.8%
18.9%
17.2%
Household economy
Measure
Charleston, SC
South Carolina
United States
Median household income
$81,517
$69,324
$84,427
Poverty rate
11.9%
14.1%
12.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher (25+)
38.3%
32.1%
35.6%
Languages at home
Measure
Charleston, SC
South Carolina
United States
Speaks a non-English language at home
8.2%
8.4%
22.3%
Spanish
5.1%
5.2%
13.6%
Religious landscape
Measure
Charleston, SC
South Carolina
United States
Catholic
10.6%
8.0%
18.6%
Evangelical Protestant
17.8%
28.6%
16.5%
Unclaimed / not counted
53.6%
47.5%
51.5%
Mainline Protestant
7.6%
7.4%
5.2%
Black Protestant
7.5%
5.8%
2.2%
American Community Survey 2024 5-year (CVAP, income, age, poverty, education, language, race, ancestry) · presidential returns from MIT Election Lab through 2024 · 2020 U.S. Religion Census (ASARB) — congregational adherents; unclaimed is the residual not counted by congregations.
Charleston, SC, South Carolina
presidential history
Presidential margin, 1892–2024
Democratic minus Republican, by election
Presidential margin over time
Year
Margin (D minus R)
1892
+20.0%
1896
+32.0%
1900
+61.6%
1904
+81.3%
1908
+72.6%
1912
+93.2%
1916
+90.9%
1920
+84.9%
1924
+83.0%
1928
+61.3%
1932
+95.6%
1936
+96.3%
1940
+76.0%
1944
+67.2%
1948
+11.8%
1952
−31.1%
1956
−4.8%
1960
−19.8%
1964
−35.7%
1968
−1.5%
1972
−33.3%
1976
+9.5%
1980
−7.9%
1984
−25.4%
1988
−19.0%
1992
−7.0%
1996
−4.9%
2000
−10.1%
2004
−10.0%
2008
+0.3%
2012
−3.1%
2016
−3.0%
2020
+1.3%
2024
−5.3%
DemocraticRepublican
34 presidential elections
Third column names the leading third-party or independent finisher. Source · MIT Election Lab · ICPSR · VEST (precinct-level 2024). Swing · margin change from the prior cycle. vs U.S. · margin relative to the national result that year.
Year
Won
Democratic
Republican
Other
Margin
Swing
vs U.S.
Total
R
46.5%Harris221,307
51.8%Trump246,427
1.6%
R+5.3
R+6.6
R+3.8
475,479
D
49.8%Biden235,245
48.5%Trump229,066
1.7%
D+1.3
D+4.3
R+3.1
472,529
R
45.8%Clinton174,949
48.7%Trump186,361
5.5%
R+3.0
D+0.1
R+5.1
382,391
R
47.7%Obama167,447
50.8%Romney178,428
1.5%
R+3.1
R+3.4
R+7.0
351,112
D
49.6%Obama166,353
49.2%McCain165,275
1.2%
D+0.3
D+10.3
R+7.0
335,674
R
44.3%Kerry124,978
54.2%Bush153,072
1.5%
R+10.0
D+0.1
R+7.5
282,187
R
43.7%Gore102,012
53.8%Bush125,585
2.5%
R+10.1
R+5.2
R+10.6
233,505
R
44.9%Clinton87,474
49.8%Dole97,091
5.4%
R+4.9
D+2.1
R+13.5
195,027
R
40.6%Clinton82,814
47.6%Bush97,159
11.8%
R+7.0
D+12.0
R+12.6
204,120
R
40.1%Dukakis66,913
59.1%Bush98,592
0.8%
R+19.0
D+6.4
R+11.3
166,822
R
36.9%Mondale62,786
62.3%Reagan106,102
0.8%
R+25.4
R+17.5
R+7.2
170,273
R
44.8%Carter70,395
52.6%Reagan82,814
2.6%
R+7.9
R+17.4
D+1.8
157,303
D
54.4%Carter73,163
44.8%Ford60,343
0.8%
D+9.5
D+42.8
D+7.5
134,575
R
32.5%McGovern36,993
65.8%Nixon74,869
1.7%
R+33.3
R+31.8
R+10.1
113,776
R
35.8%Humphrey39,154
37.2%Nixon40,779
27.0%
R+1.5
D+34.2
R+0.8
109,499
R
32.2%Johnson27,427
67.8%Goldwater57,870
0.0%
R+35.7
R+15.9
R+58.3
85,297
R
40.1%Kennedy23,195
59.9%Nixon34,622
0.0%
R+19.8
R+15.0
R+19.9
57,817
O
20.3%Stevenson8,958
25.0%Eisenhower11,068
54.7%
Other +29.6
D+26.3
D+10.6
44,187
R
34.4%Stevenson17,114
65.6%Eisenhower32,564
0.0%
R+31.1
R+42.9
R+20.3
49,678
O
15.1%Truman3,907
3.3%Dewey859
81.5%
Thurmond +66.4
R+55.4
D+7.3
25,820
D
76.1%Roosevelt11,930
9.0%Dewey1,405
14.9%
D+67.2
R+8.9
D+59.7
15,669
D
88.0%Roosevelt13,417
12.0%Willkie1,827
0.0%
D+76.0
R+20.2
D+66.1
15,244
D
96.3%Roosevelt13,614
0.0%Landon0
3.7%
D+96.3
D+0.7
D+72.0
14,142
D
95.6%Roosevelt12,540
0.0%Hoover0
4.4%
D+95.6
D+34.3
D+77.8
13,118
D
80.6%Smith8,212
19.3%Hoover1,963
0.2%
D+61.3
R+21.7
D+78.8
10,194
D
90.6%Davis5,358
7.5%Coolidge446
1.9%
D+83.0
R+1.9
D+108.2
5,916
D
92.4%Cox6,481
7.4%Harding522
0.2%
D+84.9
R+6.0
D+111.1
7,016
D
95.4%Wilson5,759
4.5%Hughes269
0.1%
D+90.9
R+2.3
D+87.8
6,037
D
93.2%Wilson4,590
0.0%Taft0
6.8%
D+93.2
D+20.6
D+73.7
4,924
D
86.0%Bryan6,799
13.5%Taft1,064
0.5%
D+72.6
R+8.7
D+82.1
7,902
D
90.6%Parker6,750
9.4%Roosevelt697
0.0%
D+81.3
D+19.7
D+100.9
7,447
D
80.8%Bryan5,562
19.2%McKinley1,321
0.0%
D+61.6
D+29.7
D+69.2
6,883
D
62.7%Bryan5,848
30.8%McKinley2,869
6.5%
D+32.0
D+11.9
D+38.0
9,321
D
59.7%Cleveland5,643
39.6%Harrison3,748
0.7%
D+20.0
—
D+18.4
9,455
voter registration
Registered voters
Total registered voters, over time
Registered voters
Voter registration in Charleston, SC
Year
Total registered
2016
591,700
2018
662,630
2020
727,629
2022
710,220
2024
730,095
domestic migration
Who moves in and out
Net domestic migration over time
+10,171 net domestic migration · 2025
20112025
Net +150,668 over 2011–2025 · gain loss
Domestic migration in Charleston, SC in Charleston, SC: net domestic migration by year
Year
Net domestic migration
2011
+8,679
2012
+8,947
2013
+8,909
2014
+10,234
2015
+13,247
2016
+11,498
2017
+9,652
2018
+9,249
2019
+11,133
2021
+9,778
2022
+12,193
2023
+15,360
2024
+11,618
2025
+10,171
The Charleston media market anchors South Carolina's Low Country, where rapid in-migration of college-educated professionals has tightened margins in suburbs that were once reliably one-sided by double digits.
Across the recorded series it reached a Democratic high of 96.3 points in 1936 and a Republican high of 35.7 points in 1964. Between 2020 and 2024 the market moved 6.6 points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was 5.3 points.
A population of 968,143, a 62% non-Hispanic-white share, and a median household income of $81,517 describe the market. The market's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Richmond-Petersburg and Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News.
Akashic
Political twins — media markets
The media markets whose fingerprint — 2000–2024 trajectory, demographics, ancestry, religion — sits closest to this one, and why.
Twin score (0–100) = weighted cosine between tier-standardized fingerprints: presidential margins 2000–2024 with 12-yr trend and elasticity, ACS income, age, education, population and race, top reported ancestries, and religious adherence — chips name the closest-shared dimensions and the widest gap. Re-weight the groups in the twins explorer.
Compare two places, side by side
Twelve curated comparisons line up election history, demographics, and the divergence story for two places at a glance. Browse all comparisons →
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All citations released under CC BY 4.0. Attribution: Akashic Intelligence.
Charleston, SC, South Carolina. Akashic. https://akashic.app/dma/519/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
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How did Charleston, SC, South Carolina vote in 2024?
In 2024, Charleston, SC, South Carolina voted Republican by 5.3 points (R+5.3), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 475,479 votes cast, 221,307 went Democratic and 246,427 went Republican.
When did Charleston, SC, South Carolina last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Charleston, SC, South Carolina voted Democratic was 2020.
How many people live in Charleston, SC, South Carolina?
Charleston, SC, South Carolina has a population of 968,143 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Charleston, SC, South Carolina?
Median household income in Charleston, SC, South Carolina is $81,517 — above the national median of $80,734. The South Carolina state median is $69,324.
What is the political history of Charleston, SC, South Carolina?
Akashic tracks 34 presidential elections in Charleston, SC, South Carolina from 1892 to 2024. Of those, 17 went Democratic and 15 went Republican.
