State Facts
Nickname: The Palmetto State
Motto: “Dum Spiro Spero” – “While I breathe, I hope”. Adopted in 1776.
Geography: South Carolina is bordered to the north by North Carolina, to the south and west by Georgia, and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean.
Coastline: 187 miles
Time Zone: Eastern
State Capital: Columbia
Population: 4,625,364, as of 2010 Census (24th-largest state. Roughly the size of Ireland)
Size: 32,020 square miles (40th-largest state. Roughly the size of Austria)
Number of Counties: 46
Major MSA Populations (2009):
- Columbia: 744,730
- Greenville-Mauldin-Easley: 639,617
- Charleston-North Charleston: 659,191
- Spartanburg: 286,228
- Myrtle Beach-North Myrtle Beach-Conway: 263,868
- Florence: 200,653
- Anderson: 184,901
- Sumter: 104,495
Major Industries (by percentage of total employment):
- Government, 19.6%
- Professional and Business Services, 11.6%
- Leisure & Hospitality, 10.6%
- Retail Trade, 12.3%
- Manufacturing, 11.6%
- Education & Health Services, 11.7%
- Construction, 4.4%
- Financial Insurance & Real Estate, 7.2%
- Transportation, Warehousing & Utilities, 3.2%
- All other, 7.8%