2 SC cities have among highest STD rates in the US for 2024, new study shows. See where it’s worst

Patrick McCreless
·2 min read
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Two South Carolina cities are struggling with sexually transmitted diseases in 2024, but not as badly as last year, a new study shows.

The city of Columbia ranked 21st on the list of the top 100 U.S. cities with the highest rates of STDs. Charleston followed at 52nd on the list.

The cities were ranked through a recent study from research company Innerbody Research, which used the latest data from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention.

The seventh annual study notes that while Columbia and Charleston are still in the top 100 for high STD rates, their rankings improved considerably over last year.

Columbia ranked a startling third highest in the U.S. just a year ago, while Charleston was 14th on the list. Also, Greenville was ranked 25th highest a year ago, but completely dropped out of the top 100 for 2024, the study shows.

The study’s CDC data also shows that while South Carolina cities saw improvements in STD rates, the South overall is struggling more than ever. Last year, 14 of the 25 U.S. cities with the highest STD infection rates were in the South — meaning a region with roughly 39% of the the U.S. population contributed over half of the 25 cities with the worst STD infection rates.

“But this year, the number of southern cities has risen to 17 of that top 25, or just over two-thirds. This overrepresentation in our study is disturbing,” Innerbody states.

South Carolina cities STD breakdowns

Columbia

  • STD cases/100K population: 1,166

  • HIV cases: 134

  • Chlamydia cases: 7,172

  • Gonorrhea cases: 3,007

  • Syphilis cases: 128

Charleston

  • STD cases/100K population: 856

  • HIV cases: 13496

  • Chlamydia cases: 5,468

  • Gonorrhea cases: 2,098

  • Syphilis cases: 135

Other study findings

The latest data shows there were were more than 710,000 new cases of gonorrhea in the U.S. There were also more than 1.6 million new cases of chlamydia, meaning the disease has risen back to pre-2020 levels. Gonorrhea rates continue to increase in U.S. cities and never slowed in 2020, the study states.

Meanwhile, syphilis rates have risen 28.6% since the last study. But the rise in the congenital syphilis rate nationally is even more staggering at 30.5%, constituting a tenfold increase in newborn syphilis cases over the span of a decade, the study shows. As such, since 2001, syphilis cases in the U.S. have increased 781%, while cases of congenital syphilis during that 20-year span rose by 464%.