Summerville is a town in Berkeley, Charleston, and Dorchester counties in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The population was 48,091 as of August 2008. The city is a distant suburb of Charleston; and has thus experienced rapid population growth. In 2007, it was designated a principal city of the Charleston–North Charleston–Summerville Metropolitan Statistical Area Summerville is also included as part of the Charleston-North Charleston Urbanized area.