Rank

2335of 3,144

Charleston, South Carolina

Score 5.73 / 10· population 424,367

About 424,400 people live in Charleston, South Carolina. It ranks #2,335 of 3,144 counties for liberty, and #22 of 46 in South Carolina. The combined sales tax is 9%, higher than in 93% of counties. Property tax takes about 0.4% of a home's value each year, less than in 90% of counties. Local government employs a smaller share of working residents than in 89% of counties. The homicide rate is higher than in 92% of counties. Life expectancy is about 78.3 years, longer than in 77% of counties. Air quality is worse than in 73% of counties (a typical day's air quality index is 46), and flood and hurricane risk is higher than in almost every other county. On this site's state scores, South Carolina gets 6.84 of 10 for economic freedom, based on the Fraser Institute's ranking, and 10 of 10 for gun rights.

v4 — beta, 30 October 2026, sourced values

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Eleven factors

Government behavior

  1. Fraser Institute state ranking (state)6.8
  2. 2A (state)10.0
  3. GOP + LP vote for President4.7
  4. Sales tax1.8
  5. Property tax8.0

Environment

  1. Air quality5.4
  2. Floods / hurricanes0.0

Private behavior

  1. Homicide rate3.6
  2. Life expectancy8.3
  3. Government employees8.9
  4. Single-parent households2.9

Neighbors