When Brittney Ross moved to Summerville, S.C., last fall, she quickly realized she was part of a trend.
Reminders of the state’s burgeoning population surround her: She and her boyfriend snagged an apartment in a newly constructed building, and she battles fierce traffic to commute to work. One bad day, her ordinarily 35-minute drive took more than two hours. Lines back up at her local Walmart, turning simple errands into unpredictable quests.
Despite the annoyances, Ross, 23, is enjoying her new home. She relocated from Auburn, Ala., to be closer to the beach and take advantage of a strong job market while she saves money to finish her degree in animal sciences.
“I just knew I wanted a big change from Auburn,” Ross said. “I definitely came here with blind faith that I would find a good opportunity for me, which thankfully I did. I’m really happy I did make that leap.”
Within days of moving, she landed a job in client care at an urgent care veterinarian, a role she finds more fulfilling and aligned with her interests than her last job at Whataburger.
People like Ross have been flooding to the Palmetto State in recent years, turning it into a top destination for out-of-state moves. While states like Texas and Florida have seen larger total numbers of transplants in recent years, South Carolina has taken on more new residents per capita, thanks to its relatively small population of 5.5 million. By that measure, it ranked second only to Idaho for in-migration between 2020 and 2024.
Last year, South Carolina was the top destination by a U-Haul measure of one-way moving equipment rentals, unseating Texas for the first time in three years. The state saw a net 68,000 domestic movers in 2024, according to Census Bureau data.
Recent relocators and the real estate agents they’ve worked with cite a number of reasons for their moves: Job-related relocations are common, as major companies like BMW and Boeing expand their presence in the state. Northeasterners, in particular, often come seeking warmer weather and a lower cost of living. And the state’s coastal communities have long been magnets for retirees.
“I feel like we’ve become the 55+ capital of the East Coast,” said Mark Klim, a real estate agent at Realty One Group Coastal in Summerville, a fast-growing Charleston suburb. The Charleston area alone has more than half a dozen retirement communities.
He and fellow agent Jeff Gregg say they’re fielding regular inquiries from prospective relocators in states like New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, California and Washington, as well as retirees who gave Florida a try but were turned off by its mounting insurance costs and hurricane risks. Coastal South Carolina is prone to flooding, but hasn’t been hit by a major hurricane since 1989.
‘Completely new experience’
Alex Stein, 27, didn’t envision Charleston becoming a long-term home. Taking advantage of her remote social media job to try out life in different cities, she found a short-term sublet and planned to move to Nashville when it ended. But she decided to stay after falling in love with the city’s approachable size, beaches, weather, and history.
“All of that combined felt like a completely new experience to me,” said Stein, a native of Washington state. “I wanted to try it out.”
Despite South Carolina’s reputation for lower cost of living, prices vary widely throughout the state. In Charleston and its closest suburbs, homes can easily cost between $700,000 and $1 million, said Jeff Cook, a Summerville-based real estate agent who sells around the state. Moving to a more distant suburb opens up more options between $400,000 and $600,000.
Statewide, the median home for sale in January was listed at $350,000.
Cook thinks there’s a city for everyone in the state, even if they’re priced out of the Charleston area. Myrtle Beach or the upstate city of Greenville are the most popular cheaper alternatives, he said, depending on one’s preferred natural environment.
“There’s a large amount of people that are inquiring about relocating to South Carolina,” Cook said. “A lot of the reason for that is we can get from the mountains all the way to the coast inside a couple of hours. There are not many states that you can achieve that in.”
Stein zeroed in on the Charleston suburb of Mount Pleasant when she decided to extend her time in South Carolina. She described the process of finding an affordable apartment the second time around as “humbling.”
“It was hard to find something in my budget,” said Stein, who scoured listings in Facebook groups and other apartment-finding websites before signing a long-term lease through a complex she liked.
Cook, meanwhile, has been doing brisk business in luxury home sales in recent months, primarily thanks to relocators from states with sky-high real estate costs.
“That may not be a luxury transaction, say, in New York, but that $1.5 million transaction here in Summerville is a super nice house,” he said.
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