The Charleston metropolitan area is an urban area centered around Charleston, South Carolina. The U.S. Office of Management and Budget designates the area as the Charleston-North Charleston, SC Metropolitan Statistical Area, a metropolitan statistical area used for statistical purposes only by the United States Census Bureau and other federal agencies. The OMB defines the area as comprising Berkeley, Charleston and Dorchester counties, an area with 799,636 residents in the 2020 census. Principal cities include Charleston, North Charleston, and Summerville. The area is commonly referred to as the Tri-County Area or the Lowcountry, though the latter term has historically referred to South Carolina's southern coast in general.
>>>PUT SHARE BUTTONS HERE<<<
👉 Charleston metropolitan area, South Carolina in the context of Interstate 95
Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from U.S. Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Florida, north to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between Maine and the Canadian province of New Brunswick. The highway largely parallels the Atlantic coast and US 1, except for the portion between Savannah, Georgia, and Washington, D.C., and the portion between Portland and Houlton in Maine, both of which follow a more direct inland route.
I-95 serves as the principal road link between the major cities of the Eastern Seaboard. Major metropolitan areas along its route include Miami, Jacksonville, and Savannah in the Southeast; Richmond, Washington, Baltimore, Wilmington–Philadelphia, Newark, and New York City in the Mid-Atlantic; and New Haven, Providence, Boston, and Portland in New England. The Charleston, Wilmington, and Norfolk–Virginia Beach metropolitan areas, the three major coastal metros bypassed by the highway's inland portion, are connected to I-95 by I-26, I-40, and I-64, respectively.
In this Dossier
Charleston metropolitan area, South Carolina in the context of Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the most populous city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean formed by the confluence of the Ashley, Cooper, and Wando rivers. Charleston had a population of 150,227 at the 2020 census, while the Charleston metropolitan area, comprising Berkeley, Charleston, and Dorchester counties, has an estimated 870,000 residents. It ranks as the third-most populous metropolitan area in the state and the 71st-most populous in the U.S. It is the county seat of Charleston County.
Charleston was founded by the English in 1670 as Charles Town, named in honor of King Charles II. Originally established at Albemarle Point on the west bank of the Ashley River (now Charles Towne Landing), the settlement was moved in 1680 to its present location, where it quickly grew to become the fifth-largest city in North America by the 1690s. During the colonial period, Charleston remained unincorporated and was governed by a colonial legislature and a royal governor, with administrative districts and social services organized by Anglican parishes. Although the state capital was relocated to Columbia in 1788, Charleston remained among the top 10 U.S. cities by population through 1840. A significant part of Charleston's history is its central role in the Atlantic slave trade; local merchants, including Joseph Wragg, helped break the monopoly of the Royal African Company, making Charleston a primary entry point for enslaved Africans. Almost one-half of enslaved people imported to the United States arrived in Charleston. In 2018, the city formally apologized for its role in the American slave trade.