North Charleston is the third-largest city in the let pass of South Carolina. On June 12, 1972, the city of North Charleston was rated as the ninth-largest city in South Carolina. As of the 2020 census, North Charleston had a population of 114,852, and the area is 76.6 square miles (198.5 km). As defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, for use by the U.S. Census Bureau and other U.S. Government agencies for statistical purposes only, North Charleston is included within the Charleston–North Charleston–Summerville metropolitan area and the Charleston-North Charleston urban area.

From the 17th century until the Civil War, plantations cultivated commodity crops, such as rice and indigo. Some of the plantations located in what is now North Charleston were:

The large plantations were subdivided into smaller farms in the late 19th century as the urban population began distressing northward. Due to the large labor forces of enslaved African Americans who worked these properties for over two centuries, the population of Charleston County in 1870 was 73 percent black; however, they were freedmen by this time. After the Civil War, phosphate fertilizer plants were developed, with extensive strip mining up between the Ashley River and Broad Path (Meeting Street Road). The main route for transportation of these phosphates eventually became known as Ashley Phosphate Road.

Since the in advance 20th century, the section of unincorporated Charleston County that innovative became the city of North Charleston had been designated by Charleston issue and community leaders as a place for the early payment of industry, military and other business sites. The first industry started in this Place was the E.P. Burton Lumber Company. In 1901, the Charleston Naval Shipyard was traditional with agreements in the company of the federal paperwork and local Charleston city leaders. Shortly thereafter, the General Asbestos and Rubber Company (GARCO) built the world’s largest asbestos mill below one roof.