SC · Palmetto State · South · admitted 1788 (#8)
South Carolina map
South Carolina highlighted on the US map, with its capital Columbia at the fall line and largest city Charleston on the coast. The state is a triangle between the Savannah River and the Atlantic.
- Capital
- Columbia
- Largest city
- Charleston
- Population (2020)
- 5,118,425
- Area
- 32,020 sq mi
- Counties
- 46
- Time zone
- Eastern
- Region
- South · South Atlantic
- Statehood
- May 23, 1788
Where South Carolina is
South Carolina is the triangular state on the South Atlantic coast, with its apex in the Blue Ridge and its base along the ocean. It is about 260 miles from the mountains to the sea and about 200 miles along the coast from Little River to the Savannah mouth. Clockwise from the north: North Carolina along a surveyed line, the Atlantic Ocean along about 190 miles of coast, and Georgia across the Savannah, Tugaloo and Chattooga rivers to the southwest. It has only two neighboring states. It is the 40th-largest state by area and 23rd by population.
Major cities
| City | Region of state | Population (2020) |
|---|---|---|
| Charleston | Lowcountry, on the harbor | 150,227 |
| Columbia (capital) | Midlands, at the fall line | 136,632 |
| North Charleston | Lowcountry, Charleston metro | 114,852 |
| Mount Pleasant | Lowcountry, across the Cooper from Charleston | 90,801 |
| Rock Hill | Piedmont, Charlotte metro | 74,372 |
| Greenville | Upstate | 70,720 |
The city populations are modest because South Carolina's growth is suburban: the Greenville–Spartanburg, Columbia and Charleston metro areas each hold between 800,000 and 950,000 people, and the Myrtle Beach area is among the fastest-growing in the country.
Geography
- Highest point — Sassafras Mountain, 3,553 ft, on the North Carolina line in the Blue Ridge corner of Pickens County.
- Three belts — the Blue Ridge in the northwest corner, the Piedmont across the Upstate to the fall line at Columbia, and the Coastal Plain covering the southeastern two-thirds. The Sandhills mark the fall line.
- Rivers — the Savannah on the Georgia border; the Santee system (Broad, Saluda, Congaree, Wateree) draining the middle of the state through Lakes Marion and Moultrie; the Pee Dee in the northeast; and the Edisto, the longest free-flowing blackwater river in North America.
- Coast — the Grand Strand beaches around Myrtle Beach in the north, Charleston Harbor at the meeting of the Ashley and Cooper, and the Sea Islands (Kiawah, Edisto, Hilton Head) of the Lowcountry. See the coastlines map.
- Lakes — all artificial: Marion, Moultrie, Murray near Columbia, and Hartwell, Russell and Strom Thurmond on the Savannah.
Borders
The Georgia border follows the Savannah River from the ocean up to the Tugaloo and then the Chattooga, with the line at the river's north bank as agreed in the 1787 Treaty of Beaufort, so Georgia owns the river. The North Carolina line is entirely surveyed: a diagonal from the coast northwest to the 35th parallel, along the parallel westward with a notch around the old Catawba lands, then straight to the mountains. The two states re-ran the line with modern GPS between 1995 and 2016, moving a handful of houses across the border. The ocean boundary extends three nautical miles from the beaches.
Regions of South Carolina
The Upstate (Greenville, Spartanburg, Anderson), the Midlands (Columbia, Aiken, Sumter), the Pee Dee (Florence, Darlington), the Grand Strand (Myrtle Beach), and the Lowcountry (Charleston, Beaufort, Hilton Head). The Olde English District along the North Carolina line around Rock Hill and Lancaster and the Old 96 District in the west are older names still used by the state's tourism map.
Related maps
- South Carolina county map — all 46 counties with seats.
- Blank South Carolina map — outline for printing.
- Printable South Carolina map.
- Columbia — a planned capital laid out in 1786 at the center of the state.
- Neighbors: North Carolina, Georgia.
- South, South Atlantic division, Southeast, Eastern Time Zone.
- Geography: coastlines, Appalachian Mountains, rivers.