Lowcountry towns maintain pace among fastest-growing places in SC

Three places on the South Carolina coast — Charleston/Mount Pleasant, Myrtle Beach and the Beaufort/Hilton Head Island area — were among the 20 fastest-growing regions of the country last year, according to new U.S. census data estimating growth between 2014 and 2015.

Mount Pleasant in suburban Charleston became the 10th fastest-growing town of 50,000 people or more in the United States, and several Beaufort and Jasper county locations were among the fastest-growing South Carolina cities and towns in the new estimates.

The data released by the Census Bureau on Thursday show Mount Pleasant’s population in 2015 was just over 81,000 people. That’s a nearly 5 percent increase over 2014.

Mount Pleasant has become the fourth-largest community in South Carolina. Only Columbia, Charleston and North Charleston have more people.

The figures show the fastest-growing community in America was Georgetown, Texas, in the Austin area.

South Carolina’s fastest-growing

Several Jasper and Beaufort county places have been among the fastest-growing locales in South Carolina for several years, and the new data show the trend continuing.

Bluffton ranked seventh among the state’s cities and towns for raw numerical growth between 2014 and 2015 with its 1,612 new faces. The state’s other top places in raw population growth were Mount Pleasant, Charleston, Greenville, Summerville, Hanahan and North Charleston. Hilton Head Island was 13th and Hardeeville was 16th in numerical growth.

Beaufort County’s numerical growth in new residents put it at 7th place from 2014 to 2015 among the state’s 46 counties, behind Horry, Greenville, Charleston, York, Richland and Berkeley counties.

By growth rate, Hardeeville was second statewide at 11.4 percent, and Bluffton was third at 10.7 percent. South Carolina’s fastest growing town from 2014 to 2015 was Blythewood, which had 12 percent more people in 2015 than it did in 2014. Port Royal ranked 25th at 2.4 percent.

Among counties, Jasper County was the third-fastest growing between 2014 and 2015, adding 805 people, or 3 percent. Beaufort County was No. 5 with 4,471 new people, representing a rate of about 2.5 percent.

Hampton County shrank by 373 people, about 2 percent, a negative population rate surpassed only by Bamberg, Lee and Allendale counties.

Local population growth

In the last six years, Hardeeville has grown at the fastest rate among Beaufort and Jasper-county incorporated areas. From 2010 to 2015, its population rose from 3,060 to an estimated 5,301 people, a 73-percent jump. Bluffton is second in that longer period, growing 25 percent in population, from 13,353 in 2010 to an estimated 16,728 in 2015. Numerically, Hilton Head Island added the most people, barely, in those six years. The island’s 3,416 new people represent growth of about 9.2 percent. The census estimates Bluffton added just 41 fewer new individuals in the same period.

The new data show that from 2014 to 2015, Hardeeville’s and Bluffton’s growth slowed to about 11 percent in each place. Among local places, Bluffton grew the most numerically in the last year, adding 1,612 people, followed by Hilton Head’s 649 and Hardeeville’s 544.

Two places, Ridgeland and Yemassee, have lost about 1 percent of their population from 2014 to 2015. Ridgeland has yo-yoed in total population over the last six years, while Yemassee has seen a slow, steady decline.

This story was originally published May 19, 2016 at 4:22 PM with the headline "Lowcountry towns maintain pace among fastest-growing places in SC."