Goose Creek, South Carolina

Area Profile

48,078 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Goose Creek, in Berkeley County.

62out of 100
Area Score
Top 44% of 2,944 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 12% of 3,904 published cities76
Schools1842nd of 2,668 published cities37
GrowthTop 5% of 2,973 published cities80
Housing affordabilityTop 45% of 4,223 published cities83
ClimateTop 22% of 4,223 published cities77
Physical resilience3497th of 4,182 published cities22
Access4029th of 4,226 published cities53
Economic stabilityTop 10% of 4,226 published cities79
The quick read

Goose Creek ranks in the top 12% of published city profiles for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 4.1% and median household income of $88,178.

Development activity is both elevated and accelerating — 561 housing units permitted over the past twelve months, up 43% on the prior year.

Physical-risk exposure is above the national median, driven mainly by hurricane, earthquake and coastal flooding.

At a glance

Population
48,078
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$88,178
Top 26% nationally
Density
1,108/sq mi
43.4 sq mi of land
Median age
34.0
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Berkeley County
South Carolina
Metro area
Charleston-North Charleston, SC
Nearest major airport
MYR
78 mi · Myrtle Beach Intl
Median home value
$306,000
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.1% is lower than 59% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment grew 2.1% over the past year, to 25,555 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$3,979$88,178Top 26%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,098$39,296Top 34%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate6.5%Bottom 31%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute28.7 minTop 40%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher29.7%Top 31%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment25,555Bottom 33%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)6.9%Top 3%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)2.1%Top 5%June 2026
Labor force26,649Bottom 33%June 2026
Labor force participation74.2%Top 10%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$64,260Bottom 28%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$49,150Bottom 35%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)0.0%Bottom 45%June 2026
Unemployment rate4.1%Bottom 41%June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/064.62.4
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 4.1% in June 2026. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202488k79k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $88,178 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — Charleston-North Charleston, SC
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Retail Salespersons11,930$34,090
Fast Food and Counter Workers10,850$28,500
Registered Nurses9,760$92,800
Waiters and Waitresses9,580$19,340
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand8,100$38,090
Cashiers7,960$30,130

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

33% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 42% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 15.5 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
18
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
15.5
across all schools here
Math proficiency
32.6%
Bottom 30% in South Carolina
Reading proficiency
41.8%
Bottom 37% in South Carolina
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Stratford HighBerkeley 012,60516.0
Goose Creek HighBerkeley 011,97316.7
Cane Bay MiddleBerkeley 011,46418.129%47%
Cane Bay ElementaryBerkeley 011,16115.757%55%
Carolyn Lewis SchoolBerkeley 011,07816.1
Sedgefield MiddleBerkeley 0195016.78%27%
Goose Creek ElementaryBerkeley 0192314.911%20%
Westview MiddleBerkeley 0184015.837%42%
Mevers School of Excellence · charterCharter Institute at Erskine77210.037%40%
Berkeley Preparatory Academy · charterCharter Institute at Erskine76412.1
Westview PrimaryBerkeley 0168816.8
Boulder Bluff ElementaryBerkeley 0165915.724%34%

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against South Carolina’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $1,690 takes 23% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 3.5 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
23.0%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.5×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,690
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$306,000
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income3.47Top 37%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate68.2%Bottom 34%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±55318,500Top 3%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$46$1,690Top 15%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$10,528$306,000Top 28%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income23.0%Top 25%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate3.9%Bottom 23%2024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
80/ 100
Top 5% of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is decreasing, measured from 2020 to 2025.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has grown 9% since 2020, reaching 50,352 in 2024.

Permitting has turned downward after moving the other way the year before.

Population is still rising, but more slowly than in the preceding year.

New construction is predominantly single-family: only 0% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.

At 11.7 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
561
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
11.7
Top 10% nationally
Year over year
+43%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202450k46k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
20202022202320242025527348
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2020 (+12%).

Weather & climate

7 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 91°F and January a low of 39°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 52.5 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 37, in the Good band, and no day in the year passed 100.

30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station CHARLESTON INTL AP, 6.9 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND7.0"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index49.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation52.5"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall0.3"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low39°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high91°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months71991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10002024 calendar year
Median air quality index37.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing33°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
37
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
49
90th percentile index
Days above 100
0
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today. Air quality is measured rather than modelled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — roughly half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, and the rest show nothing rather than an estimate. Air masses are regional, so a county reading describes the air over a place reasonably well, but it is still the county reading.

Physical risk

22 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are hurricane, earthquake and coastal flooding.

HurricaneHigh
EarthquakeModerate
Ice stormModerate
Coastal floodingModerate
LandslideModerate

Low or minimal exposure: wildfire, lightning, inland flooding, tornado, cold wave, winter weather, strong wind, heat wave, hail, drought.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Berkeley County records 4.6 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 14.5 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 21.6 per 100,000 residents in Berkeley County.

Homicide
4.6
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
14.5
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
21.6
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
16.5
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Berkeley County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Goose Creek rather than Goose Creek itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
Taxes
No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Full cost of living
No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings.

Access

3 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 78 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Myrtle Beach IntlMYR78 mi9,503 ft
Columbia MetroCAE91 mi8,601 ft
Savannah/Hilton Head IntlSAV92 mi9,351 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Area Score
62
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Other cities in Charleston-North Charleston, SC

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
CharlestonCharleston County154,33868vs Goose Creek
North CharlestonCharleston County119,91357vs Goose Creek
Mount PleasantCharleston County93,99369vs Goose Creek
SummervilleDorchester County51,65465vs Goose Creek
HanahanBerkeley County21,45266vs Goose Creek
LadsonCharleston County16,140vs Goose Creek
Moncks CornerBerkeley County15,48562vs Goose Creek
James IslandCharleston County12,198vs Goose Creek

Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, once a calendar year is complete

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

ZIP codes in Goose Creek

2 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
2944559,227$81,59462
2948653,975$89,57864