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Charleston County, SC — Pet care Saturation

How many pet care exist per person present — residents plus daytime workers — by ZIP code, compared with the U.S. average. Establishment data: Census ZBP 2023. Population: ACS 2024 5-year. 34 ZIP codes analyzed.

Includes: Pet grooming · Boarding & kennels · Dog day care · Pet sitting services. Counted together because official statistics use one 812910 code.

Measured density: High density — 1.54× the U.S. rate (between 1.54× and 2.42× once withheld ZIP cells are counted)

Why a range: Census does not publish a ZIP-by-industry count when that ZIP has 0–2 businesses. 25 ZIP cells in this county are withheld, 14 of them with residents. Each could hold 0, 1, or 2 businesses: counting them all as 0 gives the low end, counting them all as 2 gives the high end — the data cannot say where the truth sits. The density range uses only the populated cells, since ZIPs without residents are excluded from per-person rates. How ranges work

Range spans the U.S. rate   Charleston County pet care — 154–242% of the U.S. rate

49 pet care are counted in Charleston County — 1.0 per 10,000 people present (residents + daytime workers), 154% of the U.S. rate of 0.6.

On the comparable ZIP set (ZIPs with a published count in every year), the total has risen 9% between 2015 and 2023 (33 → 36). That set is smaller than today's county total. 2020–2021 were pandemic-distorted, and Census rounds counts, so small moves are within noise.

Measured supply density is highest in 29464 (Mount Pleasant), 29455 (Johns Island), 29466 (Mount Pleasant) — well above the national rate. On measured density alone, the lowest-density residential ZIPs with a published count are 29406 (Charleston), 29418 (North Charleston), 29414 (Charleston).

Census County Business Patterns (2023) puts the county-wide count at 54 establishments, including locations in ZIP codes that do not map to a ZCTA — so it can run slightly above the sum of the ZIP rows on this page. It is annual, so it lags more than QCEW.

Measured density: Charleston County sits at 154% of the U.S. rate for pet care. 14 ZIPs with population have no published count (each 0–2 businesses), so the true per-capita rate is between 154% and 242% of the U.S. rate. Why. The highest measured density is in 29464 and 29455; the lowest measured density is in 29406 and 29418.

This is a supply-side read: it counts existing pet care and the people present, not foot traffic, income, rent, or whether locals want more. Treat low density as a question to check, not an answer.

Pet care
49–99
published count; upper bound counts each withheld ZIP cell as 2 (25 cells) (2023)
Per 10,000 present
1.0
residents + daytime workers
U.S. average
0.6
per 10,000 present
County index
1.54×
vs. U.S.
Latest year (CBP)
54
2023 — $17M annual payroll
Residents
400,685
23 ZIPs with data
Workers
208,214
jobs located in county

Is the area growing?

Population
431,001
Census PEP, July 1 2024
Change since 2020
+5.1%
+21,043 people
Net migration 2024
+3,995
international +2,748, domestic +1,247
Jobs located here
267,018
LODES 2022, +3.2% since 2019

Charleston County had an estimated 431,001 residents on July 1, 2024 — 5.1% more than in 2020 (+21,043). In the latest year it gained 5,196 people: births minus deaths +1,218, international migration +2,748, domestic migration +1,247. Components are published separately and may not sum exactly.

267,018 jobs were located in the county in 2022 (+3.2% since 2019), and 185,888 employed residents lived there (+1.2% since 2019). LODES counts wage and salary jobs covered by unemployment insurance plus federal jobs; it excludes the self-employed and military, and counts jobs rather than unique people. 2019→2022 spans the pandemic, so read it as one change, not a trend.

Population and migration say whether the customer base is growing. They do not say whether people want another business of this type. Definitions and limits →  ·  Full county detail →

ZIP gaining residents
2015–19 → 2020–24
Change
29455 Johns Island
+22.2%
29418 North Charleston
+21.4%
29414 Charleston
+10.0%
ZIP losing residents
2015–19 → 2020–24
Change
29409 Charleston
−23.0%
29405 North Charleston
−12.4%

ACS 5-year estimates for 2015–2019 and 2020–2024. Only ZIPs with at least 2,000 residents in both windows and a change larger than the survey margin of error (90%) are listed — small ZIPs move a lot on paper without a real signal.

Nonemployer businesses (no paid employees)

Nonemployer businesses
341
no paid employees (2024)
Receipts
$9.0M
published gross receipts
Receipts per business
$26K
gross, not profit

Census Nonemployer Statistics counts businesses with no paid employees — a separate universe from the employer establishments counted above; a business is in one or the other, never both. They are not storefronts by definition: many are home-based, mobile, or part-time.

We show them beside the density index, not inside it. In categories such as nail and beauty salons, child care, and pet care, one-person businesses can outnumber employer establishments, so the employer-only count understates how many businesses exist. That is not evidence of higher demand.

Receipts are gross revenue reported for these businesses — not profit, and not the size of the local market. Census publishes this only at county level, so it is not shown on the ZIP map. See methodology.

Saturation map

Each ZIP area is shaded by its density of this business type per person present (residents + workers) vs. the U.S. average. Click any ZIP to zoom to its boundary, see its numbers, and switch to aerial imagery. Individual mapped shops appear as dots at street level — Show locations zooms you in to them (scroll or double-click to zoom).

Basemap:
Under 50% 50–100% 100–150% 150–250% 250%+ 0–2 (not published) / no data ZIP total (dot size) Mapped shop (OpenStreetMap, street level)

Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors, tiles by OpenFreeMap.

White dots are ZIP totals from the official Census count — the bigger the dot, the more pet care in that ZIP. They are aggregated, not individual shops. Turquoise dots are individual locations mapped in OpenStreetMap, shown only at street level; they are crowd-sourced and indicative, may be incomplete, and do not equal the official counts. Only the official ZIP totals feed the saturation index.

Market trend — up 9% since 2015

Number of pet care in Charleston County across 2015–2023, on a consistent set of ZIP codes present in every year — so changes are real, not ZIP-boundary artifacts. 2015/2018 are pre-pandemic baselines; 2020/2021 are COVID-distorted.

33
2015
31
2018
28
2020
31
2021
37
2022
36
2023

Highest measured density

ZIP
vs. U.S. average
Index
29464 Mount Pleasant
340%
29455 Johns Island
299%
29466 Mount Pleasant
227%
29412 Charleston
146%
29407 Charleston
136%
29414 Charleston
130%
29418 North Charleston
116%
29406 Charleston
99%

Lowest measured density

ZIP
vs. U.S. average
Index
29406 Charleston
99%
29418 North Charleston
116%
29414 Charleston
130%
29407 Charleston
136%
29412 Charleston
146%
29466 Mount Pleasant
227%
29455 Johns Island
299%
29464 Mount Pleasant
340%
Low measured density is not evidence of opportunity. A ZIP with few pet care may simply lack foot traffic, retail space, or demand. We rank only residential and mixed ZIPs here; employment hubs and visitor destinations are listed separately below. ZIPs where Census did not publish a count (0–2 businesses) are not ranked: they may be the least served of all, but the data cannot tell 0 from 1 or 2. Verify those locally.

Employment hubs & destinations

These ZIPs have far more workers (or visitors) than residents, so their counts are driven by daytime and visitor demand — not a place to read "shortage" from resident numbers alone.

ZIPNeighborhoodType ResidentsWorkersPet careIndex
29401Charleston Employment hub 9,33918,896 3 253%

Scroll the table sideways to see all columns.

All ZIP codes

Click a column header to sort. Index = pet care per 10,000 people present (residents + 0.5×workers) ÷ the U.S. average. 100% = exactly average.

ZIPNeighborhood ResidentsWorkersPet care Per 10kIndexStatus
29464Mount Pleasant 53,04533,695 15 2.1 340% Very high density
29455Johns Island 27,5768,437 6 1.9 299% Very high density
29401Charleston 9,33918,896 3 1.6 253% Very high density
29466Mount Pleasant 44,9427,817 7 1.4 227% High density
29412Charleston 39,2568,366 4 0.9 146% Above average
29407Charleston 36,70619,936 4 0.9 136% Above average
29414Charleston 44,7278,308 4 0.8 130% Above average
29418North Charleston 26,05229,515 3 0.7 116% Above average
29406Charleston 32,00131,739 3 0.6 99% Below average
29402Charleston —136 0–2 — — Not published
29403Charleston 22,53313,595 0–2 — — Not published
29404Charleston Afb 2,334190 0–2 — — Not published
29405North Charleston 26,25420,684 0–2 — — Not published
29409Charleston 2,056201 0–2 — — Not published
29413Charleston —108 0–2 — — Not published
29415North Charleston —242 0–2 — — Not published
29416Charleston —110 0–2 — — Not published
29417Charleston —68 0–2 — — Not published
29419North Charleston —202 0–2 — — Not published
29422Charleston —29 0–2 — — Not published
29423Charleston —98 0–2 — — Not published
29424Charleston 1,243200 0–2 — — Not published
29425Charleston 09,035 0–2 — — Not published
29426Adams Run 1,69754 0–2 — — Not published
29429Awendaw 4,479557 0–2 — — Not published
29439Folly Beach 1,125778 0–2 — — Not published
29449Hollywood 8,0241,187 0–2 — — Not published
29451Isle Of Palms 4,3621,777 0–2 — — Not published
29457Johns Island —31 0–2 — — Not published
29458Mc Clellanville 2,505310 0–2 — — Not published
29465Mount Pleasant —447 0–2 — — Not published
29470Ravenel 5,639886 0–2 — — Not published
29482Sullivans Island 2,087880 0–2 — — Not published
29487Wadmalaw Island 2,703206 0–2 — — Not published

Scroll the table sideways to see all columns.

Find an actual space in Mount Pleasant

The numbers above tell you how the market looks. To find a specific storefront, these marketplaces list available retail space for lease.

LoopNet
Largest commercial marketplace
Browse Mount Pleasant retail space →
Crexi
Free listings + market data
Browse Mount Pleasant retail space →
CityFeet
Retail space for lease
Browse Mount Pleasant retail space →

Open vacancy data (actual empty units) is only published by some cities; where it exists we show it directly. Listings above are third-party.

Census withholds some ZIP-by-industry cells to protect small businesses. 0–2 means the cell was not published (Census publishes industry counts only at 3+ per ZIP), so the ZIP is left unranked rather than counted as zero. ~ means the count is estimated from the broader industry group and can be off by a business or two.

Follow Charleston County and pet care

When a data vintage changes or a section of this report is revised, we post it to a public update feed. No email address, no account, no tracking — and nothing is sent unless something actually changed.

Subscribe to updates (RSS) How these numbers are built →

Methodology & sources

Establishments. U.S. Census ZIP Code Business Patterns (ZBP 2023), NAICS 812910 — pet care (except veterinary) services. Counts establishments with paid employees. ZBP is published annually with a ~2-year lag.

Fresh county signal. This industry has no clean QCEW series, so the freshest county signal is Census County Business Patterns 2023: 54 establishments and $17M in annual payroll county-wide. This count includes locations in ZIP codes that do not map to a ZCTA, so it can be slightly higher than the sum of the ZIP rows. CBP is annual and slower than QCEW. It cannot be broken down by ZIP.

Population. U.S. Census American Community Survey 2024 5-year ZCTA population (table B01003). Workers are the ZIP's total employment from the same 2023 ZBP file.

Demand ("people present"). Demand comes from residents and daytime workers: residents + 0.5 × workers. This is the single documented assumption in the model and can be tuned.

Index. index = (ZIP establishments ÷ ZIP demand × 10,000) ÷ the U.S. average for this industry (0.63 per 10,000 present). It is a supply-side density measure; it does not capture income, rent, tourism, or whether locals actually want more.

Read the full methodology →  ·  Data sources & vintages →

BizGapMap — free, no-login small-business saturation reports for major U.S. counties. Built entirely from public U.S. Census, BLS, and IRS data (ZBP 2023, ACS 2024 5-year, PEP 2024, LODES, QCEW, IRS SOI). No forecasts, no revenue guesses — withheld cells are marked, and the few derived counts are labelled as estimates.