South Carolina
State-to-state migration of people and income, 2022–2023 filing years
At a glance (2023)
The cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. The median home is valued at $236,700 (nominal). Home prices have risen about 60% over the five years to 2023. Median rent is about $1,126 a month. Unemployment averaged 3.0% in 2023 (national 3.6%). Median household income is $66,818. These figures describe all residents, not just tax filers, come from separate sources than the migration data on this page, and do not indicate why anyone moved.
Between the 2022 and 2023 filing years, South Carolina saw a net gain of 29,053 tax-filing households and a net gain of 59,037 individuals. Against a population of about 5,373,555, that is a net inflow of about 11 per 1,000 residents. On net, the area gained $4.1B in associated adjusted gross income (AGI, nominal dollars). The largest inflow, about 18,026 households, came from North Carolina; the largest outflow, about 15,305 households, went to North Carolina. In the prior (2022) filing year, the area saw a net gain of 70,773 individuals. These figures cover federal income tax filers only and do not indicate why people moved.
+11.0 net people per 1,000 residents (population 5,373,555)
Income (AGI) in and out
South Carolina counties
Net migration by county. Hover for figures; click a county to open it.
Top origin states
- 1North Carolina18,026$1.5B
- 2Florida9,651$705.6M
- 3Georgia9,309$752.8M
- 4New York7,266$685.9M
- 5Virginia4,896$506.3M
- 6Pennsylvania4,214$411.8M
- 7California4,179$382.6M
- 8Texas3,840$337.6M
- 9New Jersey3,650$388.7M
- 10Ohio3,043$266.6M
Top destination states
- 1North Carolina15,305$1B
- 2Georgia8,328$505.4M
- 3Florida7,188$552.8M
- 4Virginia3,717$254.5M
- 5Texas3,703$257.9M
- 6New York3,037$171.6M
- 7California2,322$162.8M
- 8Tennessee2,301$158.9M
- 9Pennsylvania2,047$140.3M
- 10Ohio1,892$125.8M
Churn by state · both directions at once
The biggest two-way exchanges of filing households, 2022–2023. Moved in and moved out are gross one-way counts; net is the difference. Click a column to sort.
| North Carolina | 18,026 | 15,305 | +2,721 | +$516.8M |
| Georgia | 9,309 | 8,328 | +981 | +$247.3M |
| Florida | 9,651 | 7,188 | +2,463 | +$152.8M |
| New York | 7,266 | 3,037 | +4,229 | +$514.3M |
| Virginia | 4,896 | 3,717 | +1,179 | +$251.9M |
| Texas | 3,840 | 3,703 | +137 | +$79.7M |
| California | 4,179 | 2,322 | +1,857 | +$219.8M |
| Pennsylvania | 4,214 | 2,047 | +2,167 | +$271.5M |
| Ohio | 3,043 | 1,892 | +1,151 | +$140.8M |
| New Jersey | 3,650 | 1,161 | +2,489 | +$309.3M |
| Tennessee | 2,487 | 2,301 | +186 | +$32.4M |
| Maryland | 2,643 | 1,341 | +1,302 | +$195.4M |
Counts are filing households (IRS returns), matching the lists above; income is nominal AGI. A dash means the IRS published only one direction of that exchange (small flows are suppressed), so no net is computed.
Net migration by year
| Year | Net AGI | Net people |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | +$1.1B | +21,546 |
| 2013 | +$1.6B | +29,176 |
| 2014 | +$1.7B | +30,355 |
| 2015 | +$1.1B | +21,170 |
| 2016 | +$2.3B | +40,298 |
| 2017 | +$3.4B | +64,791 |
| 2018 | +$2.5B | +44,861 |
| 2019 | +$2.6B | +41,933 |
| 2020 | +$3.6B | +54,334 |
| 2021 | +$4.2B | +64,845 |
| 2022 | +$4.8B | +70,773 |
| 2023 | +$4.1B | +59,037 |
How big is this move, relative to the state?
In the 2022–2023 filing year, about 59,037 more people moved into South Carolina than left (counting tax filers and their dependents) — a net gain of about $4.1B in income (nominal) — in a state of 5,390,798 people.
The rate lets you compare South Carolina with a stateof any size: it’s the net flow divided by population. The IRS counts tax filers; population counts all residents, so read the rate as a scale indicator, not a literal share of people.
Components of population change · 2023 (Census)
Where the state’s overall change came from. Census counts all residents; the IRS migration above is one slice of the domestic-migration component.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program. Figures are people, not tax filers.
What a dollar is worth here
Prices around South Carolina run about 7% below the national average. In plain terms: $100 spent here buys about what $107 buys in the average American community. The figures below apply that to income, each compared to the U.S. average of $70,002 per person.
Price parity shown at the state level (BEA does not publish a single figure below the metro level).
Where the cost comes from · price parity by category
Index where 100 = U.S. average for that category. Housing is usually what separates one place from another.
Housing is measured from rents (including an estimated rental value for owner-occupied homes), so a run-up in purchase prices shows here only as it reaches rents. Source: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Covers all residents, a separate universe from the IRS filer income above. How the data works.
The people of South Carolina
American Community Survey, 2019–2023 (a 5-year average of all residents, not just tax filers).
White, Black, and Asian counts are people who are not Hispanic or Latino; Hispanic or Latino can be of any race. Shares are rounded and may not total 100.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Covers all residents, a separate universe from the IRS filer data. A 5-year estimate is an average over 2019–2023; compare years at least five apart, since consecutive windows overlap. How the data works.
Housing · what it costs to live here (ACS 2019–2023)
A repeat-sales index (how much the same homes changed in price), so it tracks the market over time rather than the current level. Source: Federal Housing Finance Agency, annual all-transactions HPI; the county series is FHFA’s developmental index.
Units authorized by residential building permits (new supply), summed from counties for the state and U.S. Permits are authorizations, not completions. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey.
Home value is what owners estimate their homes are worth, not recent sale prices. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates (2019–2023), nominal dollars. How the data works.
Jobs and natural hazards
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (LAUS) and FEMA. A disaster declaration marks federal assistance eligibility, not damage severity, and says nothing about why anyone moved. How the data works.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (LAUS). Monthly unemployment for this state, not seasonally adjusted. Updated every month, so it moves faster than the annual average above. How the data works.
Net migration by income bracket
Tax-filing households that moved into South Carolina minus those that left, by the adjusted gross income they reported, 2022–2023. Positive means more arrived than left at that income level.
Among the highest earners ($200k+), South Carolina ranks #4 of 51 states for net household migration (+4,571).
Source: IRS Statistics of Income, state-level gross migration file (returns with negative AGI are excluded, so this won’t exactly match the totals above). Income is what filers reported, not a reason anyone moved. Compare all states by income bracket. How the data works.
What South Carolina ships and receives
Physical goods shipped between South Carolina and other states, 2022. This is freight, not the migration of people or income shown above.
Top goods shipped out
Top goods received
Biggest trading partners (both ways)
Goods trade runs in both directions: states swap different goods, so a partner is often near the top of both columns. Net is ships minus receives (positive means South Carolina ships more to that partner than it gets back).
| Partner | Ships to | Receives | Net | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Georgia | $18.5B | $30.1B | -$11.6B | $48.6B |
| North Carolina | $22.2B | $26.0B | -$3.7B | $48.2B |
| Texas | $14.0B | $9.7B | +$4.3B | $23.6B |
| Florida | $12.6B | $10.2B | +$2.3B | $22.8B |
| Tennessee | $9.5B | $11.0B | -$1.6B | $20.5B |
| Ohio | $6.7B | $7.9B | -$1.3B | $14.6B |
| Illinois | $6.9B | $7.3B | -$359M | $14.2B |
| Pennsylvania | $6.3B | $5.4B | +$875M | $11.6B |
Goods shipped every five years by the Census Commodity Flow Survey (a sample, so figures are estimates and the smallest flows are withheld). Value is nominal. The totals and partner table above count trade between South Carolina and other states; the goods lists count everything the state ships or receives, including within-state shipments. Compare all states. How the data works.
What South Carolina collects in taxes
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Annual Survey of State Government Tax Collections. This is what the state government collected (not local taxes), not a measure of any individual’s tax burden. How the data works.
Elections
National maps →How South Carolina has voted. Certified returns, popular vote only. This is a separate dataset from the migration figures on this page.
President, 1976–2024
| Year | Democratic | Republican | Other | Margin | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 1,028,452 | 1,483,747 | 35,941 | R +17.9 | 2,548,140 |
| 2020 | 1,091,541 | 1,385,103 | 36,685 | R +11.7 | 2,513,329 |
| 2016 | 855,373 | 1,155,389 | 92,265 | R +14.3 | 2,103,027 |
| 2012 | 865,941 | 1,071,645 | 26,532 | R +10.5 | 1,964,118 |
| 2008 | 862,449 | 1,034,896 | 23,624 | R +9.0 | 1,920,969 |
| 2004 | 661,699 | 937,974 | 18,057 | R +17.1 | 1,617,730 |
| 2000 | 566,039 | 786,426 | 31,312 | R +15.9 | 1,383,777 |
| 1996 | 506,152 | 573,339 | 70,691 | R +5.8 | 1,150,182 |
| 1992 | 525,514 | 577,507 | 125,891 | R +4.2 | 1,228,912 |
| 1988 | 370,554 | 606,443 | 9,012 | R +23.9 | 986,009 |
| 1984 | 344,459 | 615,539 | 8,531 | R +28.0 | 968,529 |
| 1980 | 428,220 | 439,277 | 20,761 | R +1.2 | 888,258 |
| 1976 | 450,807 | 346,149 | 5,627 | D +13.0 | 802,583 |
U.S. Senate races · all states →
| Year | Winner | Democratic | Republican | Other | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Tim Scott | 627,616 | 1,066,274 | 1,812 | R +25.9 |
| 2020 | Lindsey Graham | 1,110,828 | 1,369,137 | 32,845 | R +10.3 |
| 2016 | Tim Scott | 757,022 | 1,241,609 | 49,405 | R +23.6 |
| 2014special | Tim Scott | 459,583 | 757,215 | 21,652 | R +24.0 |
| 2014 | Lindsey Graham | 480,933 | 672,941 | 81,427 | R +15.5 |
| 2010 | Jim Demint | 364,598 | 810,771 | 121,472 | R +33.8 |
| 2008 | Lindsey Graham | 790,621 | 1,076,534 | — | R +15.3 |
| 2004 | Jim Demint | 704,384 | 857,167 | 34,384 | R +9.6 |
| 2002 | Lindsey O. Graham | 487,359 | 600,010 | 14,876 | R +10.2 |
U.S. House seats won · district maps →
2024 results by county
Source: MIT Election Data and Science Lab county returns (CC0). Margins are the popular-vote gap as a share of all votes cast.
Counties in South Carolina (46)
- Abbeville County
- Aiken County
- Allendale County
- Anderson County
- Bamberg County
- Barnwell County
- Beaufort County
- Berkeley County
- Calhoun County
- Charleston County
- Cherokee County
- Chester County
- Chesterfield County
- Clarendon County
- Colleton County
- Darlington County
- Dillon County
- Dorchester County
- Edgefield County
- Fairfield County
- Florence County
- Georgetown County
- Greenville County
- Greenwood County
- Hampton County
- Horry County
- Jasper County
- Kershaw County
- Lancaster County
- Laurens County
- Lee County
- Lexington County
- Marion County
- Marlboro County
- McCormick County
- Newberry County
- Oconee County
- Orangeburg County
- Pickens County
- Richland County
- Saluda County
- Spartanburg County
- Sumter County
- Union County
- Williamsburg County
- York County
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