Columbia, SC vs North Charleston, SC
Side-by-side fiscal comparison · U.S. Census Bureau data (2023)
Summary
Columbia spends 54.0% more per capita than North Charleston ($6,979/person difference). North Charleston, SC has the stronger Fiscal Health Score (A, 80/100).
Fiscal Health Score
Key Metrics
Per Capita Spending by Department
Revenue Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Sales Tax | $623 | $231 |
| Income Tax | $42 | $0 |
| Intergovernmental | $6,842 | $23,753 |
| Charges & Fees | $8,276 | $0 |
| Other | $6,537 | $632 |
Spending Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Fire Protection | $467 | $1,323 |
| Highways & Roads | $454 | $867 |
| Public Welfare | $433 | $0 |
| Hospitals | $1,042 | $194 |
| Parks & Recreation | $1,265 | $987 |
| Housing | $3,604 | $3,880 |
| Sewerage | $141 | $274 |
| Utilities | $4,665 | $650 |
| Other | $7,824 | $4,742 |
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.