South Carolina saw its population rise faster than any other state in the nation in 2025 — just as it did the year before, the Census Bureau said in a new report.
And once again, that rapid population growth was driven by people moving here from other states, a multi-year trend that’s come with both costs and benefits.
“Throughout the 2020s South Carolina has consistently ranked in the top five,” Joseph Von Nessen, a research economist at University of South Carolina, told The Post and Courier in evaluating the Census numbers separately.
“What really stands out is that our growth accelerated since the onset of the (COVID-19) pandemic,” he added.
The relentless flood of new residents has boosted construction of homes and communities tailored for older people, supported retail businesses and made it easier to find culinary options such as New York bagels and Philadelphia cheesesteaks. It also created costly demands for new schools and new or wider roads, contributed to rising home costs, changed the cultural makeup and prompted some conflicts about scarce resources such as beach parking.
Von Nessen said there’s an ongoing imbalance in the housing market, with too few homes to meet the ever-growing demand, and that’s contributed to high prices.
The Palmetto State has seen tremendous growth particularly along the coast, in the Greenville-Spartanburg area, and in the Rock Hill and Fort Mill area that’s become a bedroom community of Charlotte, N.C. So many people — largely retirees — moved to Jasper County in 2024 that the rural county near Hilton Head Island was the third-fastest-growing county in the nation that year.
Some of the lowest property taxes in the nation for homeowners and an income tax structure that favors retirees have contributed to a “Gray Tsunami,” particularly in the Myrtle Beach and Hilton Head areas. South Carolina is expected to have more residents above the age of 64 than below the age of 18 in a few years.
Homes are being constructed along the Nexton Parkway Extension and Highway 176 between the Cane Bay and Nexton neighborhoods in Berkeley County Thursday January 15, 2026, in Summerville.
“On a state level, you will need more assisted-living facilities, more nursing home beds, more medical facilities,” Frank Rainwater, executive director of the state Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office, told The Post and Courier in 2024.
Estimates from the RFA suggest another 800,000 or more people will be calling South Carolina their home by 2042, with Horry, Berkeley, Jasper, Lancaster and Spartanburg counties all expected to see their populations rise sharply.
At the same time, most South Carolina counties have been losing population. In many rural counties other than Jasper, small towns have been fading away.
Only four other states — Texas, Florida, North Carolina, and Georgia — gained more residents than South Carolina, and none grew as rapidly, from mid-2024 to mid-2025. The Census Bureau estimates changes from July to July.
The state’s rapid growth comes in contrast to a significant slowdown across the nation. The U.S. population grew by just half a percent, gaining about 1.8 million residents according to the new census estimates.
American flags dot the front porches of homes along Blueway Avenue in Nexton Thursday January 15, 2026, in Summerville.
“The slowdown in U.S. population growth is largely due to a historic decline in net international migration, which dropped from 2.7 million to 1.3 million in the period from July 2024 through June 2025,” Christine Hartley, assistant division chief for Estimates and Projections at the Census Bureau, said of Jan. 27 release of growth numbers.
“With births and deaths remaining relatively stable compared to the prior year, the sharp decline in net international migration is the main reason for the slower growth rate we see today,” she added.
The Census Bureau estimates that if the trend continues, net international migration — people moving in minus people moving out — could fall by another million people to about 321,000 for 2025-26.
International migration has not been a large factor in South Carolina’s population growth. Instead, it’s been people relocating from other states. For that reason, while the nation has been getting more racially diverse South Carolina has not.
The state has had the nation’s fastest-growing White population, and Jasper County had the fastest-growing White population of any county in 2023.
It’s all been about who chooses to relocate to the Palmetto State.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
