Rents across South Carolina this January have nearly returned to where they were in January of 2024, according to new data from Apartment List.
Median rents dropped in all but two markets in the state since last January — Dorchester and Richland counties. Otherwise, rents, have flattened out or slightly cooled to prices similar to those two years ago.
Richland County was the only metro in the state to show steady median rent growth, year-over-year, since 2024. Rents in York County and Rock Hill returned almost to the dollar to their January, 2024, medians.
Rents in Augusta, Georgia, and in Charlotte and Gastonia, N.C., which border South Carolina, also dipped over 2025.
Fluctuations in rents were less than 1% in either direction.
The local and statewide trends mimic rent trends in the U.S. overall over the past year. Nationally, rents dropped by a quarter of a percent this month, compared to January of 2025.
Meanwhile, vacancy rates in South Carolina’s apartment markets have increased in most metros, meaning more options for renters.
Apartment List attributes the trends to the fact that “supply growth is outpacing demand growth.”
Apartments available in South Carolina this month have spent an average 38 days on the market. In January of 2024 and 2025, that time was 33 days.
The latest data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis shows that 39,391 building permits were issued in South Carolina from January through October of 2025. That is 1,049 permits fewer than the same time frame in 2024, but that still puts South Carolina on pace to see about 46,000 permits issued for 2025.
Median rents in South Carolina’s main metros (overall)
- South Carolina:
Jan. 2024: $1,239
Jan. 2025: $1,241
Jan. 2026: $1,228 - Greenville County:
Jan. 2024: $1,263
Jan. 2025: $1,284
Jan. 2026: $1,269 - Greenville:
Jan. 2024: $1,354
Jan. 2025: $1,402
Jan. 2026: $1,390 - Spartanburg:
Jan. 2024: $1,134
Jan. 2025: $1,166
Jan. 2026: $1,152 - Richland County:
Jan. 2024: $1,164
Jan. 2025: $1,189
Jan. 2026: $1,197 - Columbia:
Jan. 2024: $1,166
Jan. 2025: $1,186
Jan. 2026: $1,183 - York County:
Jan. 2024: $1,235
Jan. 2025: $1,237
Jan. 2026: $1,232 - Rock Hill:
Jan. 2024: $1,220
Jan. 2025: $1,230
Jan. 2026: $1,222 - Charleston County:
Jan. 2024: $1,582
Jan. 2025: $1,584
Jan. 2026: $1,566 - Charleston:
Jan. 2024: $1,618
Jan. 2025: $1,611
Jan. 2026: $1,601 - North Charleston:
Jan. 2024: $1,459
Jan. 2025: $1,448
Jan. 2026: $1,443 - Mount Pleasant:
Jan. 2024: $2,058
Jan. 2025: $2,085
Jan. 2026: $2,065 - Horry County:
Jan. 2024: $1,180
Jan. 2025: $1,122
Jan. 2026: $1,100 - Myrtle Beach:
Jan. 2024: $1,195
Jan. 2025: $1,147
Jan. 2026: $1,121
