Research and Demographics

CMCOG continues to monitor the region's growth through its original research, and by conducting a number of ongoing surveys. To purchase and download these documents online, please visit our document library.  For more links to maps and information about South Carolina and the Midlands, please visit www.SCMidlandsInfo.com .

• Multi-Family Rental and Condominium Survey : Over 30,000 apartments in 4 county survey. Determines vacancy rates, rents, planned construction, and includes non-subsidy and rent subsidized apartments, condominiums, planned unit developments, duplex and single floor row houses.
  
• Central Midlands Commercial Real Estate Survey: Region-wide survey covering 15.6 million square feet of shopping center space; 13 million square feet of office space; 7  million square feet of warehouse and industrial buildings; and commercial land sites in four counties. Also determines vacancy rates, rents, and planned construction.
  
• Building Permits: tracking construction activity through building permits issued by local governments for residential and commercial structures.
  
• Quarterly Columbia Area Cost of Living Survey: conducted for and published by the American Chamber of Commerce Researcher's Association.
  
• Selected Statistics for the Greater Columbia Area (MSA)- Richland and Lexington Counties: annual synopsis of growth for sectors by race, sex and age, employment and labor force, new construction, apartment and condominium survey and income characteristics.
  
• Selected Statistics for the Central Midlands Region (Fairfield, Lexington, Newberry and Richland Counties): an overview of population trends, income characteristics, new construction, employment and labor force for the region.
  
• An average of 80 requests are received weekly from the public and private sectors for various data.
  

  CMCOG also offers a comprehensive site analysis and site selection mapping and reporting tool.  Features include maps of areas showing land and water areas, roads, county and city boundaries and zip codes.  Demographic profiles can be generated on points, zip codes, counties, places, or custom areas.  Profiles can also include ring studies based on custom radii (eg. 1,3 & 5 miles) or drive times from a specific point.  The reports feature a wide array of demographic variables including population, race, education levels, income, vehicles, expenditures, and more.
  
  Please contact the CMCOG Research Staff to order your Site Analysis Report. Click here for more information and pricing.

  Click here for examples of our site analysis profiles and maps.

Support for CMCOG Planning Programs

Research staff provides data support services for all the council's planning programs.

• Human Resources: Development of an Aging Facts Book, providing socio-economic, education, income, health care and other data on the region's senior citizens. Also expanded the council's GIS data base to include the capability of computer mapping the location of the elderly in each county with self-care and mobility limitations.

• Transportation: Generated data needed for the state transportation plan for rural areas of the region; added state traffic counts at 1,100 traffic count locations in the four counties over the past five years; obtained statewide and metropolitan Census Transportation Planning packages to strengthen in-house planning programs, including work to update the area's COATS Master Transportation Plan; created GIS coverage with the capability of showing SCE&G bus routes serving areas of poverty in the Columbia area; compiled socio-economic base year and projected data needed for the TRANPLAN computer model to update the Long Range Transportation Plan.
   
• Economic Development and Grants Management: Expanded the GIS data base to provide the capability of generating labor force, socio-economic data, and employment commuting patterns for 707 traffic zones in the metropolitan Columbia area; generated census and other data required for applications for federal grants and loans programs.
   
• Planning: Began charting annexations submitted by governments in the region in order to maintain up-to-date jurisdictional boundary maps; continued to update GIS mapping to include water, sewer and transportation system expansions.