South Carolina Business by the Numbers: 2026 Company Breakdown

Key findings

• South Carolina ranks 29th nationally with 517,284 business records — 0.8% of all 64,799,929 U.S. records in the directory.
• A national-average share of large employers. South Carolina is 29th for records of companies with 500+ employees (901), with 17.4 per 10,000 records against 14.0 nationally (11th of 52 states).
• South Carolina has more healthcare & life science and food & beverage than the U.S. mix:Healthcare & Life Science is 9.0% of the state’s records against 7.4% nationally (1.2×); Food & Beverage is 1.7% of the state’s records against 1.4% nationally (1.2×).
• Columbia is the state’s largest business hub, with 8.5% of all South Carolina records.
• Business is concentrated in a few metros: Columbia, Charleston and Greenville together hold 23.3% of the state’s records.

How South Carolina ranks nationally

South Carolina and its closest neighbours by total business records. Select a state to open its own study.

Top South Carolina cities by number of business records

These 10 cities account for 41.3% of all records in South Carolina. Select any city to browse its full company list.

Browse all South Carolina companies →

South Carolina businesses by industry

Every record is classified by its primary industry using NAICS/SIC codes; the shares are of all South Carolina records. Select a sector to see those South Carolina companies.

What sets South Carolina apart

Sectors that make up a bigger share of South Carolina’s records than of the U.S. as a whole. A ratio of 2.0× means the sector is twice as common here as nationally. Select a sector to browse it.

South Carolina businesses by size

Most records in every state are small businesses. In South Carolina, 1.76% of records with a known size have 51 or more employees, against 1.77% nationally. 193 records belong to companies with $1 billion or more in revenue.

What the numbers show

South Carolina’s 517,284 records place it 29th nationally, 0.8% of the U.S. total, and 29th for large employers. Activity clusters in its largest metros — Columbia, Charleston and Greenville alone account for 23.3% of the state’s records — and the state leans toward healthcare & life science and food & beverage compared with the rest of the country. For buyers and sellers, that means the deepest pools of suppliers sit in a handful of cities and sectors; the charts above link straight into each so you can shortlist by capability and region.

Methodology

Figures count records in Factur’s U.S. business directory as of July 2026, classified by city and primary industry using NAICS/SIC codes. Records cover manufacturers, suppliers and businesses of all sizes. They are not a count of unique companies: one company can have several records (for example one per department or location), and some records are duplicates. That affects large companies most, so treat raw totals as an upper bound and rely on the ranks, shares and comparisons, which it affects much less. These are directory totals, not official census figures. Percentages are computed against the South Carolina directory total; size shares use records with a known employee count. Data compiled by Factur, a sales and marketing firm for B2B manufacturers.