Have you ever wondered how many people are crammed into Charleston in South Carolina? Here is the answer:
Charleston, South Carolina has a population density of 363.56 inhabitants per square kilometer (941.61 / sq mi)
That means the whole population of 120,083 people are living within an area of 330.3 sq km (127.53 sq mi).
As a reference: New York City has a population density of 6918 inhabitants per square kilometer (17918 / sq mi), thanks to it’s population of 8,398,748 inhabitants within an area of 1214 sq km (468.73 sq mi).
Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The city is the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston–Summerville Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina’s coastline and is located on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean formed by the confluence of the Ashley, Cooper, and Wando rivers. Charleston had an estimated population of 137,566 in 2019. The estimated population of the Charleston metropolitan area, comprising Berkeley, Charleston, and Dorchester counties, was 802,122 residents as of July 1, 2019, the third-largest in the state and the 74th-largest metropolitan statistical area in the United States.Charleston was founded in 1670 as Charles Town, honoring King Charles II of England. Its initial location at Albemarle Point on the west bank of the Ashley River (now Charles Towne Landing) was abandoned in 1680 for its present site, which became the fifth-largest city in North America within ten years. One of the key cities in the British colonization of the Americas, Charles Town played a major role in the slave trade, which laid the foundation for the city’s size and wealth, and was dominated by a slavocracy of plantation owners and slave traders. Independent Charleston slave traders like Joseph Wragg were the first to break through the monopoly of the Royal African Company, pioneering the large-scale slave trade of the 18th century. Historians estimate that “nearly half of all Africans brought to America arrived in Charleston”, most at Gadsden’s Wharf. Despite its size, it remained unincorporated throughout the colonial period; its government was handled directly by a colonial legislature and a governor sent by London, England. Election districts were organized according to Anglican parishes, and some social services were managed by Anglican wardens and vestries. Charleston adopted its present spelling with its incorporation as a city in 1783 at the close of the Revolutionary War. Population growth in the interior of South Carolina influenced the removal of the state government to Columbia in 1788, but the port city remained among the ten largest cities in the United States through the 1840 census. The only major antebellum American city to have a majority-enslaved population, Charleston was controlled by an oligarchy of white planters and merchants who successfully forced the federal government to revise its 1828 and 1832 tariffs during the Nullification Crisis and launched the Civil War in 1861 by seizing the Arsenal, Castle Pinckney, and Fort Sumter from their federal garrisons. In 2018, the city formally apologized for its role in the American Slave trade after CNN noted that slavery “riddles the history” of Charleston.Known for its strong tourism industry, in 2016 Travel + Leisure Magazine ranked Charleston as the best city in the world. The magazine has ranked Charleston the best city in the U.S. perpetually over the last few decades.
Cities with a similar population density as Charleston
Other cities that have a similar population density as Charleston, South Carolina are:
- Taunton, Massachusetts with a population density of 446 people per sq km (1,154 / sq mi).
- Carrollton, Georgia with a population density of 412 people per sq km (1,067 / sq mi).
- Somerset, Kentucky with a population density of 379 people per sq km (982 / sq mi).
- Picayune, Mississippi with a population density of 323 people per sq km (837 / sq mi).
- Portland, Tennessee with a population density of 323 people per sq km (836 / sq mi).
- Fergus Falls, Minnesota with a population density of 330 people per sq km (854 / sq mi).
- Glasgow, Kentucky with a population density of 340 people per sq km (880 / sq mi).
- St. George, Utah with a population density of 386 people per sq km (1,000 / sq mi).
- Lexington, North Carolina with a population density of 407 people per sq km (1,053 / sq mi).
- Bonita Springs, Florida with a population density of 364 people per sq km (943 / sq mi).
Cities with a similar population size as Charleston
Here a list of cities that have a similar number of inhabitants like Charleston, South Carolina:
- West Valley City, Utah with a population of 129,480 people
- Orange, California with a population of 136,416 people
- Naperville, Illinois with a population of 141,853 people
- Cedar Rapids, Iowa with a population of 126,326 people
- Frisco, Texas with a population of 116,989 people
- Temecula, California with a population of 100,097 people
- Peoria, Illinois with a population of 113,546 people
- Warren, Michigan with a population of 134,056 people
- Springfield, Illinois with a population of 116,250 people
- Daly City, California with a population of 101,123 people
Cities with a similar size as Charleston
If you want to check which cities have a similar size as Charleston, South Carolina, here you go:
- Cape Coral, Florida with 308.55 square kilometers (308.55 sq mi), population: 154,305
- Port Arthur, Texas with 373.41 square kilometers (373.41 sq mi), population: 57,755
- Newport News, Virginia with 309.82 square kilometers (309.82 sq mi), population: 182,020
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with 369.61 square kilometers (369.61 sq mi), population: 1,580,863
- Omaha, Nebraska with 367.27 square kilometers (367.27 sq mi), population: 466,893
- Greensboro, North Carolina with 346.05 square kilometers (346.05 sq mi), population: 279,639
- Las Vegas, Nevada with 348.17 square kilometers (348.17 sq mi), population: 648,224
- Chattanooga, Tennessee with 390.50 square kilometers (390.50 sq mi), population: 173,366
- Carson City, Nevada with 407.26 square kilometers (407.26 sq mi), population: 54,080
- Eloy, Arizona with 291.57 square kilometers (291.57 sq mi), population: 16,631
Cities with the same name “Charleston”
Same name but different game – do we have sister cities from other states:
- Charleston, West Virginia with a population of 49,138 residents
- Charleston, Illinois with a population of 21,838 residents