SC’s new largest city, and more cool facts from the new Census | The State

There’s a new No. 1 city in South Carolina – size-wise, at least.

Charleston has surpassed Columbia as the most populous city in the Palmetto State, by a whopping 76 people, according to new estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Still, for what it’s worth, proud Columbians might argue there’s a difference between the biggest city and the best city. (Go ahead, say what you will. We stand by it.)

The newest Census data, released Thursday morning, reflects population estimates as of July 1, 2016.

Here are some other numbers of note around South Carolina:

4,961,119

People living in South Carolina

RELATED: Explore the census yourself, including numbers on your SC city

23

South Carolina’s population ranking among all U.S. states

134,309

People living in Columbia, a .25 percent increase over the previous year and 3 percent increase since 2010

76

How many more people live in Charleston than Columbia

330

People who moved into Columbia between July 2015 and July 2016

199

Columbia’s ranking among the U.S.’s largest cities, one spot behind Charleston

817,488

People living in the six-county Columbia metro area. It’s smaller than the Greenville metro area but larger than the Charleston metro area.

14

Growth percentage of the three-county Charleston metro area. It’s still smaller than the Columbia and Greenville metro areas but has grown at least twice as fast as both since 2010.

4

Greenville’s ranking among fastest-growing large U.S. cities between July 2015 and July 2016. Its population grew nearly 6 percent in that time.

16

Percent of South Carolinians who live in the Columbia metro area

1.65

Growth percentage of Lexington County’s population between July 2015 and July 2016. It’s smaller than Richland County by about 120,000 people, but it grew more than twice as quickly as Richland County in a year.