Charleston is a city in the counties of Berkeley and Charleston in the U.S. state of South Carolina; the city serves as the county seat of Charleston County. The city was founded as Charlestown or Charles Towne, Carolina in 1670, and moved to its present location in 1680. Up until 1800, Charleston was the fifth largest city in North America, behind Philadelphia, New York City, Boston, and Quebec City. It adopted its present name in 1783. Also known as The Holy City (due it having the most churches of any American city per capita), Charleston brims with the culturally unique, such as the joggling board.

As of 2005, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated the population of the city proper as 106,712; making it the 2nd most populous city in South Carolina behind Columbia. Current trends put Charleston as the fastest growing central city in South Carolina. The metropolitan area population of Charleston and North Charleston was estimated to be 594,899 in 2005 (includes entire populations of Charleston, Berkeley, and Dorchester counties). This ranks Charleston-North Charleston as the 2nd largest individual metro in the state (behind Columbia), falling to 3rd when compared to the significantly larger consolidated metropolitan areas of Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson and Columbia-Newberry. Nearly 80% of the Charleston metro population lives inside the city and its surrounding urbanized area (2000 pop.: 423,410).

The city of Charleston is located roughly at the mid-point of South Carolina's coastline, at the junction of the Ashley and Cooper Rivers. Charleston's name is derived from Charles Town, named after King Charles II of England.

America's most-published etiquette expert, Marjabelle Young Stewart, has recognized the city since 1995 as the "best-mannered" city in the U.S, a claim lent credence by the fact that it has the only Livability Court in the country.