North Charleston, SC (population: 99,930) has ten child development schools within a 100-mile radius of its city center. Savannah Technical College, the highest ranked school in this group with a child development program, has a total student population of 5,483. It is the 5029th highest ranked school in the USA and the 130th highest in the state of Georgia (#1 is Emory University).
Child Development students from North Charleston schools who go on to become child development specialists, child psychologists, etc. have a good chance at finding employment. For example, there are 277,670 people working as child, family, and school social workers alone in the US, and their average annual salary is $43,540. Also, Preschool teachers make on average $27,450 per year and there are about 389,660 of them employed in the US today. In fact, in the Charleston-North Charleston-Summerville area alone, there are 550 employed preschool teachers earning an average salary of $25,550. Child, family, and school social workers in this area earn $31,430/yr and there are 800 employed.
North Charleston lies in Berkeley county, which is one of the 27 counties in South Carolina. Overall, the Charleston-North Charleston-Summerville area has 280,880 total employed workers according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, with a 0.8% unemployment rate, $18.57/hr average worker wage, and a $38,630 average annual salary. Thus, about 2.865 out of every 1000 jobs in North Charleston are held by child, family, and school social workers, and 1.950/1000 are held by preschool teachers.
Of the 10 child development schools with a 100-mile radius of North Charleston, only 2 have a student population over 10k. After taking into account tuition, living expenses, and financial aid, Technical College of the Lowcountry comes out as the most expensive ($10,110/yr) for child development students, with Savannah Technical College as the lowest, reported at only $4,782/yr.
| Name | State | Population | # of Schools | Avg School Rank | Total Programs | Distance from North Charleston |
| Charleston | SC | 115,017 | 15 | 24.0471 | 458 | 8.8 miles |
| Mount Pleasant | SC | 67,849 | 4 | 14.9584 | 103 | 12.2 miles |
| Beaufort | SC | - | 1 | 7.69436 | 43 | 49.4 miles |
| Denmark | SC | - | 2 | 12.8531 | 54 | 70.0 miles |
| Myrtle Beach | SC | - | 3 | 18.832 | 7 | 85.7 miles |
| Savannah | GA | 133,244 | 6 | 23.3035 | 246 | 88.5 miles |
| Columbia | SC | 130,246 | 23 | 20.8948 | 698 | 92.3 miles |