Ladson, South Carolina

Area Profile

16,140 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Ladson, in Charleston County.

62out of 100
Area Score
Top 38% of 4,196 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks

Data updated · 13 sources
OpportunityTop 8% of 4,199 cities measured80
SchoolsTop 48% of 4,162 cities measured51
GrowthTop 20% of 4,224 cities measured66
Housing affordability2,462nd of 4,218 cities measured63
ClimateTop 22% of 4,225 cities measured77
Physical resilience3,329th of 4,226 cities measured26
AccessTop 21% of 4,226 cities measured98
Economic stability2,612th of 4,226 cities measured52
The quick read

Ladson ranks in the top 8% of cities measured for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 3.4% and median household income of $78,760. The unemployment rate is published for Charleston County, SC, which contains Ladson, rather than for Ladson alone.

In the public schools here, 54% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 14.1 students for every teacher. Math proficiency and 1 other measure here are published for Charleston County, SC, which contains Ladson, rather than for Ladson alone.

3,351 housing units were authorized over the past twelve months, within 8% of the prior year — steady rather than turning. The permit count and 1 other measure here are published for Charleston County, SC, which contains Ladson, rather than for Ladson alone.

These sentences are written by fixed rules from the measurements below — a statement appears because a number crossed a stated threshold, and the values behind it are stored with it. No figure anywhere on this site is invented, estimated or inferred to fill a gap. How this works.

At a glance

Population
16,140
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$78,760
Top 34% nationally
Density
2,330/sq mi
6.9 sq mi of land
Median age
31.3
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
South Carolina
Nearest major airport
CHS
9 mi · Charleston AFB/Intl
Median home value
$234,900
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment across Charleston County, SC, which contains Ladson, is 3.4%, lower than in 84% of the 4,226 measured US cities.

Employment across Charleston County, SC, which contains Ladson, grew 3.6% over the past year, to 238,721 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$17,3082024 ACS 5-Year$78,760Top 34%of 29,2232024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$8,4642024 ACS 5-Year$36,541Top 41%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate ±4%2024 ACS 5-Year13.0%Bottom 41%of 31,7732024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute ±2.9 min2024 ACS 5-Year33.1 minBottom 22%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher ±5%2024 ACS 5-Year19.8%Bottom 48%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Drove alone to work ±7%2024 ACS 5-Year71.6%32nd percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year
EmploymentCharleston County, SC’s figureJuly 2026238,721Top 30%of 4,226July 2026
Employment change (3 years)Charleston County, SC’s figureJuly 2026+6.3%Top 3%of 4,226July 2026
Employment change (year over year)Charleston County, SC’s figureJuly 2026+3.6%Top 1%of 4,226July 2026
Labor forceCharleston County, SC’s figureJuly 2026247,01270th percentileof 4,226July 2026
Labor force participation ±4%2024 ACS 5-Year81.8%Top 37%of 31,5132024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wageCharleston-North Charleston, SC Metro Area’s figure2025 OEWS$64,260Bottom 29%of 3,7292025 OEWS
Median annual wageCharleston-North Charleston, SC Metro Area’s figure2025 OEWS$49,150Bottom 35%of 3,7292025 OEWS
Public transit to work ±0.3%2024 ACS 5-Year0.0%1st percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)Charleston County, SC’s figureJuly 2026−0.4%Top 32%of 4,226July 2026
Unemployment rateCharleston County, SC’s figureJuly 20263.4%Top 16%of 4,226July 2026
Worked from home ±5%2024 ACS 5-Year11.3%65th percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year

Median household income, successive ACS releases

202120222023202483k61k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $78,760 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

Searches the 40 largest occupations here that have a published wage.

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.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes city-level labor data only for places of 25,000 or more. This is the figure for Charleston County, SC, which contains this city.

54% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 57% in reading, across the schools here that reported results. Math proficiency and 1 other measure here are published for Charleston County, SC, which contains Ladson, rather than for Ladson alone.

There are 14.1 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places. The student-teacher ratio is published for Charleston County, SC, which contains Ladson, rather than for Ladson alone.

Public schools
—
Students per teacher
14.1
Math proficiency
54.0%
Bottom 46% in South Carolina
Reading proficiency
56.7%
Bottom 46% in South Carolina

The proficiency and staffing figures above are for Charleston County, SC: too few schools in Ladson reported a usable figure on their own to weight one honestly.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data, placed by ZIP code — which schools are in this place, not which one a particular address is zoned for. A dash in a proficiency column is a gap in the federal file, not a bad result. Proficiency is measured against South Carolina’s own standard, so it is ranked within state. How to read school figures.

Prices for everything a household buys run about 1% above the national average — the Bureau of Economic Analysis index reads 101.1, against 100 for the nation. Nationally, housing drives most of the spread between places in this index; other goods vary far less.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s house price index for the Charleston-North Charleston, SC Metro Area is up 62% over five years, and up 4.7% over the last year. It follows repeat sales of the same homes, so it measures price change rather than which homes happened to sell.

Homeowners here who pay a tax bill pay a median of $1,040 a year in real estate taxes, about 0.44% of the median home value.

HUD’s Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom, set near the 40th percentile of recent new leases, is $1,782, close to the $1,785 tenants already here pay.

At HUD’s Fair Market Rent of $1,782 a month for a two-bedroom, keeping rent to 30% of income takes a household income of about $71,300 a year, about 91% of the median household income here of $78,760.

The typical renter household here spends 35% of its income on rent, above the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $1,785 a month.

A median home at $234,900 costs 2.9 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $82,106, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Cost of living
101.1

Prices here run about 1% above the national average. The spread between places is driven mostly by housing — goods vary far less — and this excludes taxes.

Published for the Charleston-North Charleston, SC Metro Area as a whole. Prices are regional — people shop, commute and rent across a metropolitan area rather than within a city boundary — so this describes the cost of living around this place better than a figure drawn to its own limits would.

Rent as a share of income
35.2%
Above the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.9×
median home value ÷ owner household income
Market rent, two bedroom
$1,782
what a new lease costs · FY2026
Median gross rent
$1,785
what tenants now pay · 2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$234,900
2024 ACS 5-Year

The figures above are measured against Ladson’s median household income of $78,760, which describes the place rather than you. Enter your own and the ratio is recomputed against it. It stays in this browser.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Cost of living indexthe Charleston-North Charleston, SC Metro Area’s figure2023101.1Top 47%of 3,7002023
Home price change (1 year)the Charleston-North Charleston, SC Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+4.7%75th percentileof 4,1542026 Q2
Home price change (5 years)the Charleston-North Charleston, SC Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+61.6%97th percentileof 4,1542026 Q2
Home price change (10 years)the Charleston-North Charleston, SC Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+129.9%95th percentileof 4,1542026 Q2
Home price to income ±0.62024 ACS 5-Year2.9Bottom 38%of 26,8152024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate ±4%2024 ACS 5-Year76.6%51st percentileof 31,7172024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±5352024 ACS 5-Year6,19690th percentileof 32,1772024 ACS 5-Year
Market rent, one bedroomFY2026$1,622Bottom 36%of 4,072FY2026
Market rent, three bedroomFY2026$2,212Bottom 49%of 4,072FY2026
Market rent, two bedroomFY2026$1,782Bottom 42%of 4,072FY2026
Median gross rent ±$1812024 ACS 5-Year$1,785Bottom 12%of 23,1202024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$14,3622024 ACS 5-Year$234,90062nd percentileof 29,1112024 ACS 5-Year
Median property taxes ±$1222024 ACS 5-Year$1,04025th percentileof 26,4402024 ACS 5-Year
Owner household income ±$15,2292024 ACS 5-Year$82,106Top 45%of 27,5482024 ACS 5-Year
Property tax rate ±0.06%2024 ACS 5-Year0.44%8th percentileof 20,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income ±11%2024 ACS 5-Year35.2%Bottom 20%of 22,9502024 ACS 5-Year
Seasonal and second homes ±222024 ACS 5-Year01st percentileof 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year
Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year0.0%1st percentileof 31,8952024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year6.8%49th percentileof 31,7692024 ACS 5-Year
Vacant housing units ±2282024 ACS 5-Year41988th percentileof 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year

These measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with. They compare housing cost with local earnings only: transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not in them. How to read affordability, the two rent figures and the cost-of-living index.

Development Momentum

66/ 100
Top 20% of 4,224 published city profiles

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.

At 8.0 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US cities. The permit rate is published for Charleston County, SC, which contains Ladson, rather than for Ladson alone.

Units permitted
3,351
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
8.0
Top 16% nationally
Year over year
−8%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
29.9%
units in 5+ unit buildings

The Census Bureau's Building Permits Survey lists only jurisdictions that issue their own permits, and Ladson, SC is not one. This is the figure for Charleston County, SC, which contains this city.

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 43, 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, 8.6 miles from this location.

Precipitation

JFMAMJJASOND7.0"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index2024 calendar year582024 calendar year
Annual precipitation1991-2020 Normals52.5"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall1991-2020 Normals0.3"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low1991-2020 Normals39°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high1991-2020 Normals91°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months1991-2020 Normals71991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 1002024 calendar year02024 calendar year
Median air quality index2024 calendar year432024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing1991-2020 Normals33°F1991-2020 Normals

Air quality

Median air quality index
43
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
58
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. Air quality is measured by EPA monitors and published by county only where a monitor sits; a county without one shows nothing rather than an estimate, and a county reading is still the county’s. How to read climate and air quality.

Physical risk

26 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are hurricane, earthquake and inland flooding, with hurricane alone responsible for 54% of it. Inland flooding is independently rated low or minimal nationally, so this describes how the loss is composed, not how large that hazard is.

HurricaneHigh
EarthquakeModerate
Coastal floodingElevated

Low or minimal exposure: ice storm, lightning, wildfire, inland flooding, cold wave, winter weather, heat wave, tornado, strong wind, hail, landslide, drought, tsunami, volcanic activity, avalanche.

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 offenses — they say nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Charleston County records 6.4 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, higher than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 13.7 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, since the figure counts suicides and accidents as well as homicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 20.7 per 100,000 residents in Charleston County.

Homicide
6.4
per 100,000 residents
Firearm deaths, all intents
13.7
per 100,000 residents
Drug overdose
20.7
per 100,000 residents
Suicide
16.3
per 100,000 residents

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides, so the firearm figure and the homicide figure above it count some of the same deaths twice over. They overlap and should not be added together.

Death rates are crude rates — deaths divided by population, not adjusted for age — except where a count was too small for the CDC to publish and it modeled the rate, which the card marks. They come from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC by county and not below it. So they describe the county around Ladson (Charleston County) rather than Ladson itself. They are shown and not scored. How to read death rates.

What this profile does not cover

Each of these is absent for a reason, not by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them; the weighting is on the methodology page.

Reported crime
Offenses reported to police are published by department rather than by town, so AreaProfile shows a rate only on city profiles, and only where that city’s department submitted every month of a year. Either no municipal department reports for this place — many smaller communities are policed by the county — or its department did not report every month of the year. Either way there is no figure to show. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Taxes
Income and sales taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Property taxes are shown in the housing section but are not part of the score. The cost-of-living index above is a price level for all consumption, not a household budget, and it excludes taxes. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house.

Access

4 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest Charleston AFB/Intl at 9 miles.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Broadband access ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year93.7%Top 31%of 31,5882024 ACS 5-Year
Distance to major airportNASR current cycle9 miTop 21%of 4,226NASR current cycle
Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle4Bottom 38%of 4,226NASR current cycle
No internet access ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year5.3%Top 38%of 31,5882024 ACS 5-Year
AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Charleston AFB/IntlCHS9 mi9,001 ft
Myrtle Beach IntlMYR82 mi9,503 ft
Columbia MetroCAE87 mi8,601 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 County154,33868Charleston vs Ladson
North CharlestonCharleston County119,91359North Charleston vs Ladson
Mount PleasantCharleston County93,99368Mount Pleasant vs Ladson
SummervilleDorchester County51,65467
Goose CreekBerkeley County48,07863
HanahanBerkeley County21,45264
Moncks CornerBerkeley County15,48559
James IslandCharleston County12,19866

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.

Compare

Put Ladson side by side with a similar place.

Ladson vs HanahanLadson vs Guttenberg

Moving to Ladson from somewhere else?

You get the difference in prices, rent and weather, and the income that would keep pace.

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource period
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 Normals
HousingU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Regional price parities and county personal income
2023
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
July 2026
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWS
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026
Access, Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-Year
SafetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
March 2025 to February 2026; May 2025 to April 2026
SchoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2018-19 school year; 2024-25 school year
HousingU.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research
Fair Market Rents
FY2026
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar year
HousingU.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency
House Price Index (traditional, all-transactions)
2026 Q2
Current conditionsNOAA National Weather Service
National Weather Service current conditions
Live observation, read when the page opens

Profile recalculated October 8, 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 every source with how often each updates.