Columbia, SC vs Mount Pleasant, SC
Side-by-side fiscal comparison · U.S. Census Bureau data (2023)
Summary
Columbia spends 64.3% more per capita than Mount Pleasant ($7,785/person difference). Mount Pleasant, SC has the stronger Fiscal Health Score (B, 70/100).
Fiscal Health Score
Key Metrics
Per Capita Spending by Department
Revenue Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Sales Tax | $623 | $437 |
| Income Tax | $42 | $0 |
| Intergovernmental | $6,842 | $6,212 |
| Charges & Fees | $8,276 | $2,912 |
| Other | $6,537 | $3,395 |
Spending Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Fire Protection | $467 | $399 |
| Highways & Roads | $454 | $0 |
| Public Welfare | $433 | $623 |
| Hospitals | $1,042 | $0 |
| Parks & Recreation | $1,265 | $963 |
| Housing | $3,604 | $2,205 |
| Sewerage | $141 | $0 |
| Utilities | $4,665 | $3,710 |
| Other | $7,824 | $4,211 |
Compare More Cities
The side-by-side above pulls the the Census Annual Survey of State and Local Government Finances data for both entity A and entity B. What follows is the interpretation — which specific axes carry the most weight for entity A versus entity B, and which differences are large enough to influence a real decision.
Practical use of the comparison: read the data above, then drill into the individual entity A and entity B detail pages for the underlying breakdown. A pairwise comparison answers the relative question; the per-entity pages answer the absolute question.
Source: Census Annual Survey of State and Local Government Finances, 2026.