8 Things South Carolinians Do Differently Than North Carolinians
Order barbecue in South Carolina’s Midlands, and there’s a good chance the sauce starts with yellow mustard.
That’s one of the areas the two Carolinas part ways, and not all of them are on your plate.
Here’s what South Carolinians do differently than North Carolinians.
Note: This is general information, not legal advice. State laws are subject to change.
1. Hands-Free Driving
South Carolina’s hands-free law bars you from holding or supporting a phone with any part of your body while you drive.
Reading or sending texts and emails is off limits too, along with watching videos.
You can still use an earpiece or a wrist-worn device for voice calls.
The fine is $100 for a first offense, and a second offense within three years brings a $200 fine and two points.
North Carolina’s law bars manual texting and reading emails or text messages while driving.
It exempts voice-operated technology.
A violation in North Carolina carries a $100 fine plus court costs and no license points.
2. Barbecue Sauce
If you order barbecue in the Midlands of South Carolina, the sauce often starts with yellow mustard.
In the Pee Dee region, many cooks lean on thin, fiery pepper-and-vinegar sauces.
The Upstate and the Savannah River area favor peppery tomato or milder ketchup-based sauces.
Barbecue became South Carolina’s official State Picnic Cuisine in 2014.
If you cross into eastern North Carolina, you’ll find a split hog basted with cider vinegar, red pepper, and salt.
In southeastern North Carolina, cooks often add Worcestershire sauce, sweeteners, and other ingredients to that vinegar and pepper mixture.
Many Piedmont cooks pair chopped or sliced pork shoulder with a thin, tomato-based sauce.
The mustard style has crossed the South Carolina line and found admirers farther north.
North Carolina’s Lexington Barbecue Festival is the official food festival of the Piedmont Triad region.
3. Fireworks Rules
Fireworks are a licensed retail business in South Carolina, so the shop where you buy them needs a state permit for its address.
The state’s code makes it unlawful to possess cherry bombs, M-80s, and other loud and piercing fireworks that exceed two grains of pyrotechnic composition.
Breaking that rule is a misdemeanor, with a fine of up to $10,000, up to two years in prison, or both.
North Carolina’s law makes it unlawful to manufacture, purchase, sell, possess, use, or discharge pyrotechnics, except for a short list of exemptions and licensed public displays.
If you live in North Carolina, the law bars you from possessing or using pyrotechnics outside those exceptions.
What North Carolina’s Fireworks Law Exempts
North Carolina’s fireworks law exempts wire sparklers, up to 100 grams of mixture per item.
Hand-held or ground-based sparkling devices that don’t explode, spin, or propel themselves are exempt too, up to 75 grams per tube or 200 grams across several tubes.
If you want snakes and glow worms, smoke devices, or toy pistol caps, those are on the exemption list as well.
4. Liquor Stores
Retail liquor stores in South Carolina run on state licenses, and as of June 2022, one license holder may operate a maximum of six stores.
You can buy drinking glassware packaged with the liquor or lottery tickets, but a South Carolina liquor store can’t sell other food or merchandise.
If you’re buying mixers at a South Carolina liquor store, they must contain some percentage of alcohol.
North Carolina’s Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) system dates to a 1937 law that established a monopoly system for the state.
Local ABC boards operate the retail stores in North Carolina that sell bottles of spirits.
Psst! How much do you know about the Carolinas? Take our quiz and see if you can ace it.
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5. School Start Dates
School start dates are limited by state law in both Carolinas.
South Carolina bars public schools from opening for students before the third Monday in August.
North Carolina’s earliest opening date is the Monday closest to August 26.
If you live near the state line, 2026 put the earliest opening day at August 17 in South Carolina and August 24 in North Carolina.
If you’re sending kids to a year-round school, neither date applies.
Both states’ boards of education can also waive their opening date for good cause.
6. Motorcycle Helmets
Motorcycle helmets are required in South Carolina only for riders 20 and younger, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
Once you turn 21 in South Carolina, wearing a helmet is up to you.
North Carolina requires helmets for all riders, regardless of age.
If you ride across the line from South Carolina, you’ll need a helmet in North Carolina.
7. Income Tax Rates
If you live in North Carolina, you pay a single income tax rate: 3.99% for tax years after 2025.
North Carolina’s tax law can lower that rate in later years if state revenue passes set targets, starting with 2027.
South Carolina uses two brackets for tax year 2026.
If your income is under $30,000, the rate is 1.99%.
At $30,000 and above, the rate is 5.21%, minus $966.
South Carolina adjusts those brackets annually for inflation.
8. State Vegetables and Fruits
Collard greens became South Carolina’s official State Vegetable in 2011.
If you’re in North Carolina, the state’s official vegetable is the sweet potato.
North Carolina’s official collard festival is the Ayden Collard Festival.
The peach has been South Carolina’s official State Fruit since 1984.
You’ll find the muscadine grape listed as North Carolina’s official fruit.
North Carolina also named the strawberry its official red berry and the blueberry its official blue berry.
5 South Carolina Porch Traditions Rooted in Charleston and Gullah Geechee History
Charleston’s historic porches follow traditions that go back to the city’s history and Gullah Geechee culture.
The Preservation Society of Charleston runs annual Fall Tours of historic homes, gardens and neighborhoods.
5 South Carolina Porch Traditions Rooted in Charleston and Gullah Geechee History
6 Things South Carolinians Do at a Tailgate That Nobody Else Would
That’s only the start of game day for South Carolina fans.
6 Things South Carolinians Do at a Tailgate That Nobody Else Would
