Our read
Qualitative judgments on a five-point scale, not licensed index values. Ranked #9 of 49 markets we cover.
The case for
- Physical constraint on developable land is the strongest supply protection in our coverage.
- Port and automotive manufacturing anchor employment.
The case against
- A smaller transaction market means fewer assets of institutional size and thinner exit liquidity.
Our stanceActively looking. This is the profile we like: constrained supply, durable employment, older stock.
The figures that matter
- Median home value
- $489,100 ACS 2020-2024 · U.S. Census Bureau The highest of any Southeast market we have researched, at about 5.5 times income.
- Leisure and hospitality
- 55,800 -2.1% year over year July 2026, preliminary · U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Contracting, in a metro whose basis is priced off its tourism reputation.
- Government employment
- 72,500 +1.4% year over year July 2026, preliminary · U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics The single largest sector, about 16.5 percent of all jobs. Military, port and state.
- Manufacturing
- 35,500 +5.3% year over year July 2026, preliminary · U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics The fastest manufacturing growth of any market in this series.
- Construction employment
- 27,900 +7.7% year over year July 2026, preliminary · U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Expanding sharply, which is the forward indicator of competing supply.
- Renter share, Charleston County
- 36.1% ACS 2020-2024 · U.S. Census Bureau Thin, second only to Greenville among the markets we have researched.
- Assessment ratio on rental property
- 6% vs 4% S.C. Code 12-43-220(c)(1) and (e) · South Carolina Legislature The same statewide treatment set out in our Greenville guide.
- Wind and flood insurance cost
- Pending Not held · South Carolina Department of Insurance Coastal insurance must be quoted at the asset. A market average would be misleading here.
Where we would and would not transact
You are paying a resort price for a defense and manufacturing economy
Sources 2 U.S. Census Bureau1 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Median home value in Charleston County is $489,100. That is the highest of any Southeast market we have researched, above Wake County at $461,300, Fulton at $458,800, Nashville at $417,400, Charlotte at $406,800, and far above Dallas at $303,000 and Greenville at $299,000. Against a median household income of $88,494 that is roughly 5.5 times income, the least attainable ownership in our Southeast coverage.2
A basis like that carries an implied story, and the implied story is amenity: the historic peninsula, the beaches, the restaurants, the visitor economy. It is a genuinely beautiful and desirable city and the price reflects that.
The employment data describes a different economy. Government is the single largest sector at 72,500 jobs, about 16.5 percent of the metro total on our arithmetic, which is the highest government concentration of any market in this series and reflects the naval and air installations, the port authority and the state presence. Manufacturing employs 35,500 and grew 5.3 percent, the fastest manufacturing growth we have recorded anywhere in the series. Trade, transportation and utilities, which carries port employment, is 77,400.1
For an owner this is mostly reassuring rather than alarming. Military installations, a deepwater port and aerospace and automotive plants are about as geographically anchored as employment gets, and they pay better than the visitor economy. The concern is not the quality of the demand base. It is that you are buying it at a price set by a different story.
- Median home value $489,100, the highest in our Southeast coverage.2
- Price to income roughly 5.5, the least attainable in the Southeast set.2
- Government 72,500 jobs, about 16.5 percent of employment, the highest share we measure.1
- Manufacturing up 5.3 percent, the fastest in the series.
The basis here is priced off the peninsula. The payroll is at the port, the bases and the plants. Those are two different markets sharing one price.
This is the finding we did not expect and the one that most changes how we would underwrite here.
Leisure and hospitality employment in the Charleston metro was 55,800 in July 2026, down 2.1 percent over twelve months. Set against the other markets in this series that number is stark. The same sector grew 9.0 percent in Greenville, 6.1 percent in Nashville, 3.0 percent in Dallas-Fort Worth, 2.8 percent in Raleigh and 0.3 percent in Atlanta. Charleston is the only market we have researched where it contracted.1
Information employment also fell, down 6.1 percent, and trade, transportation and utilities was slightly negative at minus 0.4 percent. The offsetting growth came from professional and business services at 5.0 percent, manufacturing at 5.3 percent and construction at 7.7 percent.1
We would not overstate a single reference month, and these are preliminary figures subject to revision. But the direction matters because of the basis. If an investor is paying 5.5 times income on the strength of the visitor economy, and the visitor economy is currently shedding jobs while the industrial economy adds them, then the price and the fundamentals are pointing at different things.12
The practical consequence is submarket selection. An asset serving hospitality workers on or near the peninsula is exposed to the sector that is contracting. An asset in North Charleston or Summerville serving the port, the bases and the plants is attached to the part that is growing, at a materially lower basis.
Charleston is the only market in this series where leisure and hospitality employment is shrinking. In a city priced on its visitor economy, that deserves to be the first thing an investor reads.
The cost line that never appears in a rent roll
Sources 4 Federal Emergency Management Agency5 South Carolina Department of Insurance
Every coastal market has an expense the inland markets do not, and in Charleston it is large enough to decide a deal on its own.
Wind and flood exposure varies parcel by parcel here rather than submarket by submarket, and the difference between two properties a mile apart can be substantial. We deliberately publish no market-average figure for it, because an average is actively misleading when the variance within the market is larger than the difference between markets. The field above is marked pending for that reason.
What we would do instead, and what we would expect any sponsor to have done, is straightforward. Pull the flood zone for the specific parcel from the FEMA Flood Map Service Center rather than relying on a broker summary. Obtain a bound quote for wind and flood at the asset, not a portfolio estimate or a prior-year premium. Confirm whether coverage is available in the standard market or only through the state wind pool, and check the current position with the South Carolina Department of Insurance.
Model the premium as a growing line rather than a flat one. Coastal insurance has repriced materially in recent years across the Southeast, and a pro forma that holds it constant across a five year hold is making an assumption that recent experience does not support.
A deal that works at the quoted premium and fails at a thirty percent increase is not a deal, it is a bet on the insurance market. That should be stated in the memo rather than buried in the expense schedule.
We publish no average insurance figure for Charleston. The variance between two parcels a mile apart is larger than the difference between metros, so an average would mislead. Quote it at the asset.
Supply is expanding into a thin renter pool
Sources 2 U.S. Census Bureau1 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Charleston County is 63.9 percent owner-occupied, leaving 36.1 percent renting. That is thin: only Greenville at 31.1 percent and Wake County at 35.9 percent are thinner among the markets we have researched.2
Unlike Greenville, the thinness here is not because ownership is easy. At 5.5 times income it is the least attainable in our Southeast set, and the monthly gap between owning and renting is $547. The renter pool is thin despite the affordability barrier rather than because of its absence, which points to a housing stock weighted toward owner-occupied product and second homes rather than to purpose-built rental.2
Against that, construction employment grew 7.7 percent over twelve months, the second fastest in the series after Charlotte, and the county authorized 3,392 residential permits in 2025 against 220,700 housing units, about 1.5 percent of stock on our arithmetic. The builder workforce is expanding into a comparatively small rental market.12
That combination, a thin renter pool with an accelerating construction workforce, is the one we treat most cautiously. It does not mean the market cannot work. It means lease-up assumptions should be conservative, concession exposure should be modeled explicitly through the delivery window, and the exit should not assume the current supply and demand balance persists.
Charleston sits under the same statutory assessment regime as the Upstate. Section 12-43-220 of the South Carolina Code of Laws taxes an owner-occupied legal residence on an assessment equal to four percent of fair market value, and provides that all other real property is taxed on an assessment equal to six percent.3
We argue the underwriting consequence in full in the Greenville guide rather than repeating it here, because the statute is the same and the reasoning does not change with geography. The short version: never model a South Carolina acquisition at four percent, and never use the seller’s trailing bill.
What does differ across this metro is millage rather than ratio. Charleston, Berkeley and Dorchester counties each set their own, and the statistical area spans all three. An asset in Summerville may sit in Dorchester and an asset in Goose Creek in Berkeley, so the tax line is a county-specific calculation rather than a metro one.
What we ask before we buy in Charleston
Sources 1 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics2 U.S. Census Bureau4 Federal Emergency Management Agency
We would transact in this metro, and we would do it north and west of the peninsula rather than on it. The industrial and defense employment is the durable part of this economy, it is growing, and it is accessible at a basis that does not carry the amenity premium. Our method is set out in how we evaluate a market, the fee structure is on the fee page, and the mechanics are in how to invest.
- What flood zone is this specific parcel in, confirmed from the FEMA map service rather than from a summary?
- Is there a bound wind and flood quote at this asset, and is coverage available outside the wind pool?
- What does the model do if the insurance premium rises thirty percent during the hold?
- Which employment does this submarket actually serve, the visitor economy or the port, bases and plants?
- Which county sets the millage, Charleston, Berkeley or Dorchester, and is the tax modeled at six percent of purchase price?
- What is the delivery pipeline within three miles, against construction employment growing 7.7 percent?1
- What share of the projected return comes from operations rather than the exit?
Buy the port and the bases, not the postcard. The growing half of this economy sits north and west of the peninsula and costs materially less.
Employment by sector
Charleston-North Charleston-Summerville, SC Metropolitan Statistical Area. Figures are as published for July 2026, preliminary.
| Sector | Jobs | 12-month change |
|---|---|---|
| Trade, transportation and utilities | 77,400 | -0.4% |
| Government | 72,500 | +1.4% |
| Professional and business services | 71,000 | +5.0% |
| Leisure and hospitality | 55,800 | -2.1% |
| Education and health services | 51,300 | +0.8% |
| Manufacturing | 35,500 | +5.3% |
| Mining, logging and construction | 27,900 | +7.7% |
| Financial activities | 22,500 | +1.4% |
| Other services | 17,500 | +4.2% |
| Information | 7,700 | -6.1% |
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Economy at a Glance, Charleston-North Charleston-Summerville, SC. Retrieved September 2, 2026.
The demand base
Population, tenure, incomes and housing costs for the county. These are the figures that decide whether a renter household exists, and whether it could buy instead.
| Measure | Value | As of |
|---|---|---|
| Population, Charleston County | 436,200 +6.8% since April 2020 | July 1, 2025 estimate |
| Households | 178,975 | ACS 2020-2024 |
| Housing units | 220,700 | July 1, 2025 |
| Owner-occupied rate The remaining 36.1 percent rent. | 63.9% | ACS 2020-2024 |
| Median gross rent | $1,620 | ACS 2020-2024 |
| Monthly owner cost with a mortgage $547 above the median rent. | $2,167 | ACS 2020-2024 |
| Median household income | $88,494 | ACS 2020-2024, in 2024 dollars |
| Per capita income The highest of the Southeast markets we have researched. | $56,921 | ACS 2020-2024, in 2024 dollars |
| Building permits 2025 About 1.5 percent of existing stock. | 3,392 | 2025, Charleston County, all residential |
| Bachelor’s degree or higher | 50.3% | ACS 2020-2024, age 25+ |
| Poverty rate | 10.3% | ACS 2020-2024 |
| Mean travel time to work | 25.1 min | ACS 2020-2024 |
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, QuickFacts, Charleston County, South Carolina. Retrieved September 2, 2026.
