29420North Charleston, South Carolina

Area Profile

Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 29420.

56out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 36% of 5,298 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 11% of 6,210 ZIP areas measured77
Schools3921st of 4,422 ZIP areas measured21
GrowthTop 23% of 5,428 ZIP areas measured65
Housing affordability4689th of 6,685 ZIP areas measured66
ClimateTop 23% of 6,789 ZIP areas measured77
Physical resilience5301st of 6,709 ZIP areas measured25
Access6565th of 6,791 ZIP areas measured49
Economic stabilityTop 33% of 6,742 ZIP areas measured69
The quick read

29420 ranks in the top 11% of published ZIP profiles for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 3.8% and median household income of $72,661.

Residential permitting has slowed: 1,004 units authorized over the past twelve months, 34% below the prior year.

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

At a glance

Population
23,959
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$72,661
Top 49% nationally
Density
2,392/sq mi
10.0 sq mi of land
Median age
34.7
2024 ACS 5-Year
City
North Charleston
South Carolina
Metro area
Charleston-North Charleston, SC
Nearest major airport
SAV
85 mi · Savannah/Hilton Head Intl
Median home value
$331,700
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.8% is lower than 74% of the 6,544 measured US ZIP areas.

Employment grew 2.1% over the past year, to 67,056 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$5,756$72,661Top 49%of 31,2952024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$3,595$39,165Top 42%of 32,8222024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate12.0%Top 43%of 32,9702024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute30.3 minTop 37%of 32,8872024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher32.4%Top 30%of 33,1932024 ACS 5-Year
Employment67,056Top 44%of 6,544June 2026
Employment change (3 years)8.7%Top 1%of 6,542June 2026
Employment change (year over year)2.1%Top 5%of 6,544June 2026
Labor force69,717Top 44%of 6,544June 2026
Labor force participation71.8%Top 11%of 33,2522024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$64,260Bottom 34%of 6,0722025 OEWS
Median annual wage$49,150Bottom 39%of 6,0722025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.2%Bottom 36%of 6,544June 2026
Unemployment rate3.8%Bottom 26%of 6,544June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202473k62k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $72,661 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.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish labor-force data for ZIP areas. This is the figure for North Charleston, SC, the city containing this ZIP code.

20% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 25% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 14.4 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
7
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
14.4
across all schools here
Math proficiency
20.4%
Bottom 10% in South Carolina
Reading proficiency
24.8%
Bottom 9% in South Carolina
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Fort Dorchester HighDorchester 022,34417.5
Pinehurst ElementaryCharleston 0175811.519%12%
River Oaks MiddleDorchester 0272813.213%31%
Northwoods MiddleCharleston 0170814.412%17%
Eagle Nest ElementaryDorchester 0265314.535%37%
Windsor Hill Arts Infused ElementaryDorchester 0262211.729%34%
Pepperhill ElementaryCharleston 0145313.715%18%

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 $1,529 takes 25% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 4.6 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
25.3%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
4.6×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,529
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$331,700
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income4.57Top 21%of 30,4042024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate62.2%Bottom 18%of 32,9102024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±6929,957Top 16%of 33,7722024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$136$1,529Top 21%of 26,6182024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$18,176$331,700Top 29%of 30,9412024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income25.3%Top 14%of 26,4702024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate4.4%Bottom 20%of 33,0282024 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
65/ 100
Top 23% of 5,428 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 8.4 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US ZIP areas.

Units permitted
1,004
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
8.4
Top 16% nationally
Year over year
−34%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
33.7%
units in 5+ unit buildings

The Building Permits Survey is not published for ZIP areas. This is the figure for North Charleston, SC, the city containing this ZIP code.

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, 4.2 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND7.0"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index58.02024 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 index43.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing33°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. 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

25 / 100
Physical resilience

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

HurricaneHigh
EarthquakeModerate

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

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. ZIP values are the land-area-weighted mean of the counties the ZIP Code Tabulation Area intersects. Expected annual loss is not allocated below county level. 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.

Charleston County records 6.6 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, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 21.4 per 100,000 residents in Charleston County.

Homicide
6.6
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
13.7
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
21.4
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
16.7
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 Charleston 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 29420 rather than 29420 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
Offences reported to police are published by department rather than by town, and only where a department reported every month of the year. No municipal department reports for this place — many smaller communities are policed by the county — so 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 and full cost of living
No public source publishes either with national coverage and a method open enough to check. 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. Nothing here is individualised tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house. School attendance zones, insurance pricing and the character of a neighbourhood all vary within the places measured here.

Access

3 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 85 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Savannah/Hilton Head IntlSAV85 mi9,351 ft
Myrtle Beach IntlMYR85 mi9,503 ft
Columbia MetroCAE91 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
56
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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.

29420 vs North Charleston

How this ZIP area compares with North Charleston as a whole. Both figures come from the same ACS release, so the comparison is like for like.

29420
North Charleston
Median household income
$72,661
vs
$62,956
Per capita income
$39,165
vs
$36,019
Population density
2,392/sq mi
vs
1,538/sq mi
Median home value
$331,700
vs
$302,200
Median gross rent
$1,529
vs
$1,430
Homeownership rate
62.2%
vs
49.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher
32.4%
vs
28.6%
Poverty rate
12.0%
vs
14.4%
Median age
34.7
vs
34.6

Some demographic statistics use Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas, which approximate but do not exactly match USPS ZIP delivery geography. See the methodology for how AreaProfile maps between them.