Comparable baseline
South Carolina at a glance
| Population | 5,570,274 | July 1, 2025; +8.5% since 2020 |
|---|---|---|
| Business applications | 9,368 | July 2026, seasonally adjusted |
| Trailing-12-month applications | 102,396 | 1,838.3 per 100,000 residents |
| High-propensity applications | 2,231 | 23.8% of July applications |
| Projected employer formations | 492 | Census four-quarter projection for July's cohort |
| Small businesses | 530,402 | SBA 2025 profile; underlying employer and nonemployer data are from 2022 |
| Small-business employment | 863,326 | 42.9% of private employment in 2022 |
| Employer establishments | 122,958 | 2023 County Business Patterns |
Application rankings cover the 50 states and use unrounded figures. Applications are qualifying EIN filings, not confirmed business openings. Measurement years differ because federal datasets are released on different schedules.
South Carolina has an above-average level of business applications, but its recent growth is less exceptional. Census recorded 9,368 applications in July 2026, or 168.2 per 100,000 residents, ranking 15th among states. The trailing-year rate ranked 14th.
Growth sat closer to the national middle. July applications were 19.4% above July 2025, ranking 28th, while the 102,396 applications filed over the year through July rose 18.3%, ranking 23rd. South Carolina’s stronger claim is sustained application intensity rather than top-tier acceleration.
Population and applications have both increased
South Carolina’s population reached an estimated 5.57 million in July 2025, up 8.5% from the 2020 Census base. That was the third-fastest state increase. July applications rose 119.5% from the 4,268 recorded in July 2019.
The two trends provide context for the size of the market, but the different periods and datasets do not show how much population change contributed to applications. Applications are qualifying EIN filings rather than confirmed business openings.
A large business count does not translate into a high small-business job share
The SBA reported 530,402 small businesses from 2022 federal data. That total combined 90,365 small employer firms with 440,037 nonemployer businesses. Businesses without paid employees made up 83.0% of the published count.
Small firms employed 863,326 people, equal to 42.9% of private-sector employment. That share ranked 45th among states. South Carolina can have more than half a million small businesses while small employers account for a comparatively modest share of payroll jobs because the headline count includes hundreds of thousands of businesses without paid employees.
No county contains even one-seventh of covered private jobs
Greenville County led South Carolina with 266,065 jobs, or 12.9% of employment covered by 2023 County Business Patterns. Charleston County held 10.9% and Richland County 8.2%. Together, the three represented just 32.0% of the state total.
The leading-county share ranked 46th among states, making the employer economy unusually distributed. Greenville, Charleston, and Columbia’s home county form important centers, but no one county serves as a reliable proxy for statewide conditions.
County Business Patterns counted 122,958 employer establishments and about 2.07 million covered private jobs statewide. More than two-thirds of those jobs were outside the three leading counties, a notably broad geographic spread.
Administrative and support and waste management services was the largest covered sector, with 303,812 jobs and 14.7% of employment. Its share was 1.52 times the 50-state rate. The category is broad—it includes employment services, building services, business support, and waste-related activities—so it should not be relabeled as a single industry.
Official starting points for a South Carolina business
- Plan the process: The state’s getting-started portal routes owners to registration, permits, and support.
- File an entity: The Secretary of State provides online filings, searches, forms, and entity guidance.
- Register taxes: The Department of Revenue uses MyDORWAY for applicable accounts and retail licenses.
- Check licenses: South Carolina Business One Stop explains municipal, county, and activity-specific requirements; there is no single general statewide business license.
- Get advice: South Carolina SBDC provides private consulting and startup counseling.
Source and calculation note
Application data use the Census July 2026 Business Formation Statistics release. Monthly values are seasonally adjusted; trailing-year totals sum unadjusted applications from August 2025 through July 2026 and compare them with the prior August–July period. Rates use the July 1, 2025 population estimate. SBA measures use 2022 employer and nonemployer components. County and sector figures use 2023 County Business Patterns employment. BizFacts calculated changes, rates, regional medians, ratios, shares, location quotients, and 50-state ranks from sources retrieved September 3, 2026.