Coverage and access
Who in Charleston has health insurance, and who does not.
On this page
At a glance
Uninsured, under 65
7.6%
The standard coverage measure - Medicare covers nearly everyone above 65.
2019–23
Uninsured children
2%
Under 19.
2019–23
Uninsured, 19–34
10%
2019–23
With a disability, under 65
6.3%
ACS 2020–24
Composition
Who goes without
The figures behind the chart
| Uninsured share | Value |
|---|---|
| Under 6 | 2.2% |
| 6–18 | 1.9% |
| 19–25 | 8.4% |
| 26–34 | 11.3% |
| 35–44 | 8.5% |
| 45–54 | 9.4% |
| 55–64 | 7.9% |
| 65–74 | 0.7% |
| 75 and over | 0% |
2019–23 · B27001
Reading it
What’s notable
7.6% of residents under 65 have no health insurance - about 9,564 people. The burden is not spread evenly: 2% of children are uninsured against 10% of adults 19 to 34, which is the age band where employer coverage is thinnest and public options run out.
South Carolina has not expanded Medicaid, which puts adults earning too much for Medicaid and too little for marketplace subsidies into a coverage gap with no option in it. That gap is a policy choice, and it is most of the difference between the adult and the child figures above - children have a separate program.
This page is incomplete, and the gap matters. Coverage is an input: it says whether someone can see a doctor, not whether they are well. Health outcomes at this geography come from CDC PLACES, which is not yet wired in. Nothing here should be read as a measure of how healthy the city is.
Sources
These are estimates. Most figures here come from surveys of a sample, not a count of everyone, and different rows carry different vintages - each number shows its own rather than being averaged into a single date.
Partial coverage. Some measures for this topic are not published yet on this page. Nothing has been estimated or filled in to cover the gap.
Data retrieved: July 29, 2026
Questions
How many people in Charleston are uninsured?+
About 9,564 residents under 65 have no health insurance - 7.6% of that age group. The measure excludes people over 65 because Medicare covers nearly all of them.
Why is the uninsured rate measured only for people under 65?+
Because Medicare covers almost everyone above that age, so including them would dilute the figure toward zero and hide the variation that matters. Under-65 is the standard denominator for coverage comparisons.
Why are young adults the least insured group?+
A combination: they age off a parent’s plan at 26, they are disproportionately in jobs that do not offer coverage, and in states that have not expanded Medicaid many earn too much to qualify and too little to afford a marketplace plan.
Does this page show health outcomes?+
No, and that is why it is marked incomplete. It shows insurance coverage, which is about access rather than health. Tract-level outcome data from CDC PLACES is a planned addition and is not here yet.