BY NOAH FEIT

For the first time in 2025 an earthquake was recorded in a part of South Carolina that borders on the Charlotte, North Carolina area, as seismic activity was recorded early Thursday morning.

A 2.2 magnitude earthquake rumbled near the state line while most people were asleep, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Thursday’s earthquake was recorded at 3:34 a.m. in the Lancaster County area, the South Carolina Emergency Management Division said. It happened nearly 3 miles below the surface of the ground, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

This was the eighth confirmed earthquake of 2025 in South Carolina. The last earthquake in the Palmetto State was only days ago, when a 2.6 magnitude quake April 26, according to the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources Geological Survey.

The previous quake was the fifth earthquake of the year in South Carolina to be recorded near Elgin, in the Midlands region. While Thursday’s earthquake was the first of 2025 near Rock Hill, there were three quakes confirmed in that area last year, South Carolina Department of Natural Resources records show.

There were 30 confirmed earthquakes last year in South Carolina, after 28 quakes were recorded in 2023, according to the state Department of Natural Resources.

History of earthquakes in SC

It has been uncommon for earthquakes to hit outside of the Midlands area of the Palmetto State, specifically beyond Kershaw County, where 69 earthquakes have been confirmed since the end of June 2022, according to the South Carolina DNR.

That’s also where South Carolina’s most powerful recent earthquakes were recorded on June 29, 2022.

On that day, two earthquakes – one a 3.5 magnitude and the other 3.6 – were included in a flurry of tremors and after-shocks. Those were the two largest quakes to hit South Carolina in nearly a decade. A 4.1-magnitude quake struck McCormick County in 2014.

Anyone who felt tremors and shaking or heard rumbling from Thursday morning’s earthquake can report it to the USGS.

The most recent earthquake means at least 142 have been detected in the Palmetto State since the start of 2022, according to South Carolina DNR. All but 31 of the quakes have been in the Midlands.