29456 — North Charleston, South Carolina

Area Profile

Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 29456. Its median household income runs 24% above North Charleston as a whole, which is why this ZIP carries a profile of its own.

60out of 100
Area Score
Top 44% of 3,113 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks

Data updated · 14 sources
OpportunityTop 11% of 3,116 ZIP areas measured77
Schools2,428th of 3,047 ZIP areas measured26
GrowthTop 25% of 3,124 ZIP areas measured64
Housing affordabilityTop 34% of 3,112 ZIP areas measured73
ClimateTop 23% of 3,127 ZIP areas measured77
Physical resilience2,498th of 3,127 ZIP areas measured26
AccessTop 20% of 3,127 ZIP areas measured98
Economic stabilityTop 35% of 3,127 ZIP areas measured63
The quick read

29456 ranks in the top 11% of ZIP areas measured for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 3.7% and median household income of $78,361. The unemployment rate is published for North Charleston, SC, which contains 29456, rather than for 29456 alone.

In the public schools here, 38% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 14.6 students for every teacher.

Residential permitting has slowed: 1,004 units authorized over the past twelve months, 34% below the prior year. The permit count and 1 other measure here are published for North Charleston, SC, which contains 29456, rather than for 29456 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
41,214
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$78,361
Top 40% nationally
Density
2,281/sq mi
18.1 sq mi of land
Median age
31.9
2024 ACS 5-Year
City
North Charleston
South Carolina
Nearest major airport
CHS
7 mi · Charleston AFB/Intl
Median home value
$270,100
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment across North Charleston, SC, which contains 29456, is 3.7%, lower than in 75% of the 3,127 measured US ZIP areas.

Employment across North Charleston, SC, which contains 29456, grew 3.6% over the past year, to 67,522 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$6,0142024 ACS 5-Year$78,361Top 40%of 31,0492024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$3,8622024 ACS 5-Year$37,076Top 48%of 32,8222024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year8.9%Top 43%of 32,8462024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute ±1.4 min2024 ACS 5-Year31.5 minBottom 31%of 32,8872024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year24.0%Top 48%of 33,1932024 ACS 5-Year
Drove alone to work ±4%2024 ACS 5-Year72.4%37th percentileof 32,7982024 ACS 5-Year
EmploymentNorth Charleston, SC’s figureJuly 202667,522Top 39%of 3,127July 2026
Employment change (3 years)North Charleston, SC’s figureJuly 2026+8.7%Top 1%of 3,127July 2026
Employment change (year over year)North Charleston, SC’s figureJuly 2026+3.6%Top 2%of 3,127July 2026
Labor forceNorth Charleston, SC’s figureJuly 202670,14060th percentileof 3,127July 2026
Labor force participation ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year84.2%Top 24%of 32,8832024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wageCharleston-North Charleston, SC Metro Area’s figure2025 OEWS$64,260Bottom 38%of 2,7602025 OEWS
Median annual wageCharleston-North Charleston, SC Metro Area’s figure2025 OEWS$49,150Bottom 44%of 2,7602025 OEWS
Public transit to work ±0.1%2024 ACS 5-Year0.0%1st percentileof 32,7982024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)North Charleston, SC’s figureJuly 2026−0.5%Top 25%of 3,127July 2026
Unemployment rateNorth Charleston, SC’s figureJuly 20263.7%Top 25%of 3,127July 2026
Worked from home ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year9.6%50th percentileof 32,7982024 ACS 5-Year

Median household income, successive ACS releases

202120222023202479k65k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $78,361 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 does not publish labor-force data for ZIP areas. This is the figure for North Charleston, SC, the city containing this ZIP code.

38% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 42% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 14.6 students for every full-time teacher across 6 public schools, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
6
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
14.6
across all schools here
Math proficiency
37.7%
Bottom 14% in South Carolina
Reading proficiency
41.9%
Bottom 19% in South Carolina
All 6 public schools on record, largest first.
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Ladson ElementaryCharleston 0190714.432%29%
Oakbrook MiddleDorchester 0286114.141%49%
Joseph R. Pye ElementaryDorchester 0277514.151%57%
College Park ElementaryBerkeley 0175014.734%34%
College Park MiddleBerkeley 0166615.521%31%
Oakbrook ElementaryDorchester 0264915.147%53%

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 $1,290 a year in real estate taxes, about 0.48% of the median home value.

HUD’s Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom, set near the 40th percentile of recent new leases, is $1,780, some 8% above the $1,650 tenants already here pay.

At HUD’s Fair Market Rent of $1,780 a month for a two-bedroom, keeping rent to 30% of income takes a household income of about $71,200 a year, about 91% of the median household income here of $78,361.

The typical renter household here spends 29% of its income on rent, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $1,650 a month.

A median home at $270,100 costs 3.1 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $86,615, above the historic benchmark of about 3 times income.

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
29.3%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.1×
median home value ÷ owner household income
Market rent, two bedroom
$1,780
what a new lease costs · FY2026
Median gross rent
$1,650
what tenants now pay · 2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$270,100
2024 ACS 5-Year

The figures above are measured against 29456’s median household income of $78,361, 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 figure2023101.1Bottom 42%of 2,7372023
Home price change (1 year)the Charleston-North Charleston, SC Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+4.7%76th percentileof 3,0712026 Q2
Home price change (5 years)the Charleston-North Charleston, SC Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+61.6%96th percentileof 3,0712026 Q2
Home price change (10 years)the Charleston-North Charleston, SC Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+129.9%94th percentileof 3,0712026 Q2
Home price to income ±0.32024 ACS 5-Year3.1Bottom 36%of 29,2752024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year61.7%17th percentileof 32,7502024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±9502024 ACS 5-Year16,73994th percentileof 33,4602024 ACS 5-Year
Market rent, one bedroomFY2026$1,620Bottom 29%of 3,031FY2026
Market rent, three bedroomFY2026$2,210Bottom 41%of 3,031FY2026
Market rent, two bedroomFY2026$1,780Bottom 35%of 3,031FY2026
Median gross rent ±$1042024 ACS 5-Year$1,650Bottom 17%of 26,3962024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$12,2532024 ACS 5-Year$270,10062nd percentileof 30,8122024 ACS 5-Year
Median property taxes ±$672024 ACS 5-Year$1,29029th percentileof 28,9352024 ACS 5-Year
Owner household income ±$7,3712024 ACS 5-Year$86,615Top 45%of 29,8022024 ACS 5-Year
Property tax rate ±0.03%2024 ACS 5-Year0.48%11th percentileof 24,0992024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income ±4%2024 ACS 5-Year29.3%Bottom 44%of 26,2472024 ACS 5-Year
Seasonal and second homes ±302024 ACS 5-Year01st percentileof 33,7722024 ACS 5-Year
Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year0.0%1st percentileof 32,9612024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year6.4%47th percentileof 32,7882024 ACS 5-Year
Vacant housing units ±3522024 ACS 5-Year1,07389th percentileof 33,7722024 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

64/ 100
Top 25% of 3,124 published ZIP 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. The permit rate is published for North Charleston, SC, which contains 29456, rather than for 29456 alone.

Units permitted
1,004
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
8.4
Top 17% 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.

30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station CHARLESTON INTL AP, 7.3 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 56% 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. 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 offenses — they say nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

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 29456 (Charleston County) rather than 29456 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. A ZIP area is not a jurisdiction, so no department reports for one. North Charleston carries the figure where its department reported a full year. 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 7 miles.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Broadband access ±7%2024 ACS 5-Year91.4%Top 40%of 32,6632024 ACS 5-Year
Distance to major airportNASR current cycle7 miTop 16%of 3,127NASR current cycle
Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle4Bottom 40%of 3,127NASR current cycle
No internet access ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year5.2%Top 34%of 32,6632024 ACS 5-Year
AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Charleston AFB/IntlCHS7 mi9,001 ft
Myrtle Beach IntlMYR84 mi9,503 ft
Savannah/Hilton Head IntlSAV87 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
60
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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
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimate
Access, Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-Year
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026
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.

29456 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 — a gap here is a real difference between the two places, not two surveys disagreeing.

29456
North Charleston
Median household income: 29456 is the more favorable of the two.
Median household income
$78,361
vs
$62,956
Per capita income: 29456 is the more favorable of the two.
Per capita income
$37,076
vs
$36,019
Population density
2,281/sq mi
vs
1,538/sq mi
Median home value
$270,100
vs
$302,200
Median gross rent: North Charleston is the more favorable of the two.
Median gross rent
$1,650
vs
$1,430
Homeownership rate
61.7%
vs
49.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher: North Charleston is the more favorable of the two.
Bachelor's degree or higher
24.0%
vs
28.6%
Poverty rate: 29456 is the more favorable of the two.
Poverty rate
8.9%
vs
14.1%
Median age
31.9
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.