Lovely, historic Charleston has a lot going for it but, for decades, growth wasn't one of them.
The core city lost population for decades until things started turning around in the 1960s. Since then the number of residents has increased to 100,000 from a low of about 60,000.
Economically, the city has ridden a tourism surge; it has added large numbers of hotels, bed-and-breakfast inns and restaurants over the past 40 years. And there has also been a jump in tech jobs.
Job losses have been a problem lately, however, with an unemployment rate of 10.2% in December, higher than the national average.
After recording modest home price declines over the past three years, Charleston is poised for a comeback, according to Fiserv and Moody's Economy.com. Prices will climb an average of 2.9% between now and September 2011.
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* Between September 2009 and September 2011
