City safety & data profile
ColumbiaSC
Columbia, SC is a 142K-resident city in Richland County with a median household income of $55,529.
Richland County, South Carolina. Federal health, economic, and safety indicators for Columbia, drawn from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, CDC PLACES, and CMS Hospital Compare. Columbia has a population larger than 95% of the 4,640 U.S. cities Areazine tracks, a median home value of $264,300, and 6 hospitals serving the surrounding area.
Data updated 2026-09-05
- 142K
- Population (place)
- Top 5%
- By size
- $55,529
- Median income (place)
- $264,300
- Median home (place)
- 24%
- Poverty rate (place)
The read on Columbia
Columbia posts a median household income higher than 16% of U.S. cities Areazine tracks, where 6 hospitals serve the Columbia area.
- Bottom 17%
- by median income, US cities
- 6
- hospitals in & near Columbia
Where Columbia income ranks nationally
Median household income vs. every place Areazine profiles (place-level ACS)
$55,529 Bottom 16% higher than 16% of 3,889 places Areazine profiles
Each bar is a $20K-wide band; taller bars hold more places Areazine profiles. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (place-level) · 2024 ACS 5-year
Largest cities in SC
Population among 50 SC places with 10,000+ residents and ACS income on Areazine. Tooltip shows the income rank in the same pool.
- Columbia
Columbia, SC
142,416 residents
- Charleston
Charleston, SC
132,609 residents
- North Charle…
North Charleston, SC
108,304 residents
- Mount Pleasant
Mount Pleasant, SC
81,317 residents
- Rock Hill
Rock Hill, SC
71,548 residents
- Greenville
Greenville, SC
64,579 residents
- Summerville 48,848
Summerville, SC
48,848 residents
- Sumter 40,816
Sumter, SC
40,816 residents
- Goose Creek 40,633
Goose Creek, SC
40,633 residents
- Hilton Head … 40,512
Hilton Head Island, SC
40,512 residents
What this shows Columbia is the largest SC city on this list; Five Forks leads median income.
Highest median incomes in SC
Median household income among the same 50-city pool. Tooltip shows the population rank.
- Five Forks
Five Forks, SC
$141,786 median
- Mount Pleasant
Mount Pleasant, SC
$124,755 median
- Fort Mill
Fort Mill, SC
$121,823 median
- Bluffton
Bluffton, SC
$111,281 median
- Hilton Head …
Hilton Head Island, SC
$94,657 median
- Charleston
Charleston, SC
$92,414 median
- Goose Creek
Goose Creek, SC
$88,178 median
- Hanahan
Hanahan, SC
$87,984 median
- Lexington
Lexington, SC
$87,126 median
- North Augusta
North Augusta, SC
$86,092 median
What this shows Five Forks posts the highest place-level median income in SC; Columbia is largest by headcount.
The quick read
Reading Columbia, SC beyond the headline numbers
Columbia sits inside Richland County, South Carolina, at roughly 34.00°N, -81.03°W. Population 142,416, $55,529 median household income. Median home value $264,300, median rent $1,204. Poverty rate 24%, read against that income figure since two cities on the same median can differ underneath it.
6 hospitals in/around Columbia, 3.8/5 avg rating, 5 with an ER.
24% of Columbia, SC residents live below the poverty line, placing it in the hardest-hit quarter of reporting cities. Read every median on this page against that: half the households are above it, and a large minority are far below.
A median home in Columbia runs about 4.8 times median household income, above the midpoint. Multiples in this range usually mean buyers are arriving from outside the local wage base.
Remote work covers 11.6% of Columbia workers, under the midpoint for reporting cities.
Among the CDC measures on this page, short sleep duration departs furthest from its peer median: 41.1% in Columbia, the highest-prevalence quarter of the 3,852 cities reporting that measure.
Columbia's median age is 28.6 years, in the youngest quarter of reporting cities.
Sources: U.S. Census ACS, CDC PLACES, CMS Hospital Compare, plus live alerts for Columbia from FEMA, NOAA, FDA, and CPSC. Economic comparison bars use the unweighted average across tracked Census places with a reported value, not a household-weighted national median.
10-Year Trends 2013–2024
County-level trend (Richland County): Columbia's own historical series isn't separately published by the Census Bureau, so these year-over-year figures track the surrounding county, not the city alone.
Economics
| Indicator | Value |
|---|---|
| Median Rent | |
| Poverty Rate | 24% +94% vs avg |
| Unemployment | 6.9% |
| Bachelor's Degree+ | 45.9% |
| Work From Home | 11.6% |
| Public Transit | 1% |
Population
Health Profile 15 measures
Health Indicators
Preventive Care
Other Measures
Hospitals 6 total
What alerts and safety updates affect Columbia?
No area-tagged alerts are on record for Columbia right now. New federal and counterpart-agency notices still land in the site feed as agencies publish them.
City alert dispatch desk
Sheet SC-COLUMBIA-SC · Columbia
Columbia: 91 tagged alerts; lead category ECCC weather alert.
- VOL-HEAVY 91 on record
- MIX-LED 82% ca-weather
- DESK-MIX NOAA · CPSC/FDA/NHTSA · USGS
- NEAR-PEER 36 · Somerset
Tagged alert mix: Columbia
Published notices carrying this city slug or location tag
- Weather Alerts
Weather Alerts
75
- Weather Alerts 12
Weather Alerts
12
- Earthquakes 2
Earthquakes
2
- Product & Food Recalls 1
Product & Food Recalls
1
- Vehicle Recalls 1
Vehicle Recalls
1
What this shows 91 tagged notices on record for Columbia.
Nearest tagged-volume peer: Somerset, NJ (36 tagged · Δ55)
Counts reflect published articles tagged to Columbia; untagged NOAA county warnings may still appear in the site feed. Browse South Carolina state hubs · Methodology
Cities with a similar tagged alert volume 4
Nearest published-notice counts on Areazine (91 tagged here), a feed-density peer set, not an ACS demographic match.
Read with this city profile
Frequently Asked Questions 6
What is the population of Columbia, SC? ▼
What is the median household income in Columbia? ▼
What is the median home value in Columbia? ▼
What are the top health concerns in Columbia? ▼
How many hospitals are in Columbia? ▼
What is the median age in Columbia? ▼
Nationwide cities with similar poverty or income 8
Two ACS-derived peer sets for Columbia, both outside South Carolina so the neighborhoods are not the geographic nearby list below.
Similar poverty rate
Nearest place-level ACS poverty rates outside SC (24% here).
Similar median income
Nearest place-level ACS median household incomes outside SC ($55,529 here).
Compare Columbia with another city
Pick a second U.S. city to open a side-by-side profile on population, income, health, and hospitals, the same federal datasets as this page.
Nearby Cities 8
Using Columbia's profile
Use this as a starting research checklist, not a verdict on whether to live here.
- Check live recalls, weather and hazard alerts scoped to the Columbia area before relying on national headlines. Check your area
- Read the poverty rate alongside the income figure, two places with the same median can have very different realities.
- Compare Columbia against South Carolina peers on any ranking lens. Explore South Carolina
Population and economics (income, home value, poverty, education) are place-level U.S. Census ACS; health is CDC PLACES; hospital counts reflect facilities in and around the city. County-level trends are labeled when shown.
Data Sources
All data on this page comes from official U.S. government sources. Population and economic data from the Census Bureau American Community Survey (2024 5-year estimates, place geography). Health data from the CDC PLACES program (2023). Hospital ratings from CMS Hospital Compare (2024). Climate data from NOAA. Education data from NCES. Cost of living from Bureau of Economic Analysis. Crime statistics, where referenced on Areazine, originate from the FBI Crime Data Explorer. Housing market figures referenced on Areazine come from HUD Fair Market Rents. Census economics and population are at place geography; some health and hospital indicators are reported at the county level (Richland County) where that is the smallest published unit.
Every figure on Areazine is published directly from official U.S. government sources, no number is typed in by an editor. City demographic and health figures are compiled directly from U.S. Census (place-level ACS), CDC, and CMS releases, updated quarterly within 30 days of upstream release. County-level trends are labeled when shown. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026.