South Carolina: Small Establishments, Global Reach
South Carolina punches above its size in traded industries. The state Commerce Department markets an aerospace sector built on Boeing's North Charleston final assembly operation, counting more than 400 aerospace firms statewide, and the Census Bureau's 2023 County Business Patterns shows the broader base behind it: 122,958 employer establishments in the state, 94.7% with fewer than 50 employees. Those are counts of business locations across all of South Carolina, not the coastal metro below.
- South Carolina Department of Commerce: Aerospace industry profile (current page; retrieved 2026-10-08)
- U.S. Census Bureau: 2023 County Business Patterns: State file (cbp23st) (2023 CBP; retrieved 2026-10-05)