The area of South Carolina was part of the original territory of the United States. Both North Carolina and South Carolina were included in the charter that established Carolina in 1663. The two areas separated in 1712—a separation that was finalized when the Carolina Colony was dissolved in 1729—with generally the same shared boundary as the present states. However, they did not settle on a final boundary until 1813. South Carolina ceded area to the United States to assume generally the same boundary as the present state; the ceded area became part of the Georgia and Mississippi Territory in 1802. South Carolina ratified the U.S. Constitution on May 23, 1788; it was the eighth of the original 13 states to join the Union.

Census data for South Carolina are available beginning with the 1790 census.

AMERICAN INDIAN AREAS

South Carolina has one federally recognized American Indian reservation and six state designated tribal statistical areas (SDTSAs).

METROPOLITAN AND MICROPOLITAN STATISTICAL AREAS AND RELATED STATISTICAL AREAS

South Carolina has 10 metropolitan statistical areas, 13 micropolitan statistical areas, and 4 combined statistical areas.

COUNTIES

There are 46 counties in South Carolina. All counties are functioning governmental units, each governed by a county council.

COUNTY SUBDIVISIONS

There are 299 county subdivisions in South Carolina. They are all census county divisions (CCDs), which are delineated for statistical purposes, have no legal function, and are not governmental units.  CCDs were first established for the 1960 census.  Prior to 1960, the minor civil divisions used in the census included townships (administrative, nonfunctioning governmental units) and school districts.

PLACES

South Carolina has 395 places; 269 incorporated places and 126 census designated places (CDPs).  The incorporated places consist of 69 cities and 200 towns.  Incorporated places are each governed by a city or town council. 

CENSUS TRACTS/BLOCK GROUPS/BLOCKS

There are 1,103 census tracts, 3,059 block groups, and 181,908 census blocks in South Carolina.

CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS

For the 111^th Congress (January 2009-January 2011), South Carolina had six congressional districts.  For the 113^th Congress (January 2013-January 2015), South Carolina has seven congressional districts as a result of reapportionment based on the 2010 Census.

SCHOOL DISTRICTS

South Carolina has 2 elementary school districts, 2 secondary school districts, and 86 unified school districts.  Two of the unified school districts are run by the Department of Defense.

STATE LEGISLATIVE DISTRICTS

There are 46 state senate districts and 124 state house districts in South Carolina.

URBAN AREAS

South Carolina has 63 urban areas; 14 urbanized areas and 49 urban clusters.

ZIP CODE TABULATION AREAS

There are 424 ZIP Code tabulation areas (ZCTAs) in South Carolina.

¹  Source:  U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1923
²  Source:  U.S. Census Bureau, recomputation for historical county level data which relied upon aggregate county level population data with an estimated county centroid resulting in a possible error of up to one mile.
³  Source:  U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Centers of Population for States and Counties, 1974
⁴  Source:  U.S. Census Bureau, Geography Division, recomputation from archived national block group/enumeration area data resulting in a possible error of up to 1,000 feet.
⁵  Source:  U.S. Census Bureau, Geography Division, recomputation from archived national block group data resulting in a possible error of up to 1,000 feet.
⁶  Source:  U.S. Census Bureau, computation from national block-level data