Metro Life Score
Charleston-North Charleston, SC
Bottom-quartile composite Life Score — grade F, 1st percentile of the national corpus.
- 33.0
- Life Score / 100
- F
- Grade (curved)
- #384
- of 387 metros
- 1%
- composite percentile
Data updated August 2026
Verify: BEA · BLS · HUD · FBI · NCES · EPA · Census · Report a data issue · Data changelog
The verdict
Charleston-North Charleston is bottom-quartile composite Life Score — #384 of 387 (33.0/100, grade F, 1st percentile). Carried by childcare at 71/100; held back most by environment at 7/100.
- 1st
- composite percentile
- #384
- of 387 peers
- 17th
- cost dimension percentile
- 68th
- wages dimension percentile
Life Score shape · BOTTOM · BALANCED · signature composite
Charleston-North Charleston: bottom-third composite — where the drag concentrates
Charleston-North Charleston sits in the bottom third of the metro corpus on composite (#384 of 387, 33.0/100, 1st percentile). Stamps BOTTOM · BALANCED; Environment at 7/100 is the main drag; Childcare (71/100) keeps the floor. Cost/wage marks DEAR/HIGH. According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, Charleston-North Charleston, SC ranks #384 of 387 metros by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #320 of 387 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.
BEA RPP 101.0 (rent-RPP 119.8). BLS median salary $67,686, 381,130 jobs (Retail Salespersons, Fast Food and Counter Workers, Registered Nurses). HUD 2BR FMR $1,787/mo (studio $1,557).
FBI UCR (SC): 439 violent, 1988 property/100K. NCES: 13.8:1 ratio, 7.2% charter. DOL infant childcare $7,732/yr. EPA: 34 Superfund sites (SC).
Where Charleston-North Charleston sits among all US metros
Composite Life Score vs the national field
33 1st percentile higher than 1% of 387 US metros
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more US metros. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source PlainCompare composite of BEA, BLS, HUD, FBI, NCES, DOL, EPA data · August 2026
How the 33.0 is built
Charleston-North Charleston's Life Score, decomposed
Dimension detail
How Charleston-North Charleston scores, dimension by dimension
Score Breakdown
Dimension Scores
Key Data Points
Geography used: crime, schools, childcare, and environment cards above are SC state-level when metro-specific feeds are unavailable, see the scope key at the top of this page.
Compare Charleston-North Charleston With...
Ranking Context
Charleston-North Charleston outranks 1% of U.S. metros.
| Rank | Metro | Score | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| #381 | Kingston, NY | 33.3 | F |
| #382 | Bozeman, MT | 33.5 | F |
| #383 | Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh, NY | 34.5 | F |
| #384 | Charleston-North Charleston, SC | 33.0 | F |
| #385 | Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH | 33.0 | F |
| #386 | Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, SC | 32.8 | F |
| #387 | Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC | 30.0 | F |
Quality vs. Affordability
Charleston-North Charleston, SC is bottom 1% lowest-quality nationally and also bottom 18% least affordable -- a rarer combination among its composite-quality peers, where overall rank and affordability rank usually diverge more than this.
SC Metro Scores
Read with Charleston-North Charleston
Nearest composite peers and cost poles for Charleston-North Charleston (BOTTOM · BALANCED · DEAR/HIGH), replacing the fixed Explore/Guides strip.
Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH
ABS(composite) peer at 33.0 (Δ 0.0 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade F vs this page's BOTTOM · BALANCED · DEAR/HIGH.
Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, SC
ABS(composite) peer at 32.8 (Δ 0.2 vs this metro); lower Life Score · grade F vs this page's BOTTOM · BALANCED · DEAR/HIGH.
Kingston, NY
ABS(composite) peer at 33.3 (Δ 0.3 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade F vs this page's BOTTOM · BALANCED · DEAR/HIGH.
Bozeman, MT
ABS(composite) peer at 33.5 (Δ 0.5 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade F vs this page's BOTTOM · BALANCED · DEAR/HIGH.
Burlington-South Burlington, VT (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 18/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp DEAR vs this metro's DEAR.
Reno, NV (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 17/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp DEAR vs this metro's DEAR.
Charleston-North Charleston, SC relocation guide
Stamp-branched guide for BOTTOM · BALANCED · DEAR/HIGH - how to read federal Life Score inputs before a move.
Using Charleston-North Charleston's bottom-third Life Score
Charleston-North Charleston scores 33.0/100 overall, but Childcare (71.2) and Environment (6.7) sit 64.4 points apart, so decide which of the two matters more to you before leaning on the total.
- Childcare is the strongest of Charleston-North Charleston's seven dimensions (weighted 10% in the composite); if it is your priority, this is where the metro earns its rank. See all seven dimensions
- Environment is the weakest (weighted 10% in the composite); if it is a dealbreaker, weigh it before the ranking does. Rank metros on the composite
- Florence is the nearest comparison this page can offer; put the two side by side on the same seven dimensions. Compare with Florence
A low composite is a weighted blend; individual dimensions can still be strong.