Charleston, SC Building Setbacks & Zoning: Structure Height Limits (2026)

Zoning Ordinance Sec. 54-301 sets the 'Max Height Limits' for structures on every standard zoning district through Table 3.1: Height, Area and Setback Regulations. Single-family districts SR-1, SR-2, SR-6, SR-7 and SR-8, along with the Single- and Two-family (STR) district, are capped at 35 feet or 2.5 stories. SR-3, SR-4 and SR-5, the city's higher-density single-family zones, allow 50 feet or 3 stories. Diverse Residential districts DR-6 and DR-9 also run to 50 feet/3 stories. Sec. 54-505.c grants a narrow exception: in Conservation, RR-1, SR-1, SR-2, SR-6, SR-7 and STR districts, a dwelling's height can reach 40 feet and up to 2.5 stories if each side yard required by Table 3.1 is widened by twice the added height above the base 35-foot limit.

These Table 3.1 figures apply citywide except within the Old City Height District, defined in Sec. 54-305 as all of peninsular Charleston south of Mt. Pleasant Street. There, Sec. 54-306 substitutes a separate height-district system tied to specific streets and blocks, measured in stories or feet depending on the district, with residential floors capped at 12 feet (14 feet on a lower floor with Board of Architectural Review approval) and half-story dormers limited to 30 percent of the exterior wall width. The Board of Architectural Review can adjust heights downward by half a story based on surrounding building context, and additions to buildings under its jurisdiction must remain subordinate in height, scale and mass to the primary structure.

Property owners outside the historic overlay follow Table 3.1 directly; property owners inside it must confirm which of the mapped Old City Height Districts applies to their specific block before assuming a height.