Charleston, SC: A Top Local Market to Watch in 2027
The Charleston-North Charleston, SC, MSA, has over the past decade been one of the faster-growing market areas in the United States. Blessed with beautiful beaches, tasty low-country Southern cuisine, Charleston’s postcard-pretty downtown, strong population growth and healthy residential construction, the area also continues to attract advanced manufacturing companies related to the auto, industrial and aviation industries.
Now underway are the $3.5-billion Redwood Materials Battery Materials Campus in Ridgeville, SC; the $2-billion mixed-use Magnolia Landing project in Charleston; a $1-billion expansion of Boeing’s plant in North Charleston; and the $1-billion Roper Hospital in North Charleston. On the books are an expansion of the Volvo plant in Ridgeville and a major expansion of Charleston’s port, one of the largest on the East Coast.
The metro is one of the few large U.S. markets showing growth in both single-family and multi-family permits through June. Single-family permits hit 3,324 year-to-date in June, a +4.7% increase, and multi-family permits were up +31% to 837 permits over the same time period.
The metro added 85,795 new residents from 2020 to 2025, a +10.7% increase and over the past year has been attracting 34 new residents per day.
ESTIMATED ELECTRICAL SALES POTENTIAL
2Q 2026 Total Sales Estimate: $482 million
2026 Electrical Contractor Est. ($ Millions): $291.5 million
2026 Estimated Industrial Sales: $94.1 million
POPULATION GROWTH
2025 Population Estimate: 889,263
2020-2025 Population # Change: 85,795
2020-2025 Population % Change: 10.7%
New Residents per day: 34
BUILDING PERMITS
June 2026 - Single-family (SF) permits: 3,324 permits
# Change SF YOY: 150 permits
% Change SF YOY: 4.7%
June 2026 -Multi-family (MF) permits: 837 permits
# Change MF YOY: 198 permits
% Change MF YOY: 31%
Electrical Wholesaling's Top 10 Local Markets to Watch gives you a taste of the mountain of electrical market sales estimates and other local market data available at Electrical Marketing newsletter for just $99 per year. This data includes:
- Local market sales estimates, building permits and population data for more than 300 other Metropolitan Statistical areas
- The Electrical Price Index (EPI) - A monthly compilation of pricing trends for more than 20 key electrical product groups
- Annual product sales estimates from 16 key electrical products
Sources of market data: Local market data collected by Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) and county. Sales estimates developed with sales-per-employee multipliers from Electrical Wholesaling’s Market Planning Guide ($83572 per electrical contractor employee and $2,7289 per industrial employee) and employment data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Building permit and population data downloaded from U.S. Census Bureau website.
About the Author
Jim Lucy
Editor-in-Chief
Over the past 40-plus years, hundreds of Jim’s articles have been published in Electrical Wholesaling and Electrical Marketing newsletter on topics such as the impact of new competitors on the electrical market’s channels of distribution, energy-efficient lighting and renewables, and local market economics. In addition to his published work, Jim regularly gives presentations on these topics to C-suite executives, industry groups and investment analysts.
He recently launched a new subscription-based data product for Electrical Marketing that offers electrical sales potential estimates and related market data for more than 300 metropolitan areas, and in 1999 he published his first book, “The Electrical Marketer’s Survival Guide” for electrical industry executives looking for an overview of key market trends.
While managing Electrical Wholesaling’s editorial operations, Jim and the publication’s staff won several Jesse H. Neal awards for editorial excellence, the highest honor in the business press, and numerous national and regional awards from the American Society of Business Press Editors. He has a master’s degree in Communications and a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Glassboro State College, Glassboro, N.J. (now Rowan University).