Best PlacesAiken County, SC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Aiken County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Aiken County ranks 1,019th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on low property taxes and what local pay buys. The weaker spots are air quality, childcare costs, and summer heat.
The best neighborhoods in Aiken County
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
The best areas in Aiken County
The parts of Aiken County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Jackson
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and more adults hold degrees.
Graniteville
More households have young kids, though prices have run up more.
North Augusta & Belvedere
It is noisier and more homes sit empty.
Aiken
More residents vote, though homes cost more.
New Ellenton & Windsor
Crime runs lower.
Beech Island
Tree cover is thicker.
Wagener
Schools score lower and health outcomes score lower.
Aiken County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 1% of the country and others in the top 6%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Aiken County's strengths and weaknesses
Aiken County lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Low property taxes, what local pay buys, and fast internet are the strongest pieces, though none of them is exceptional.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Air quality, childcare costs, and summer heat hold the score down. That varies block to block rather than evenly, and the map below shows where.
Where Aiken County ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 85% of counties
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 83% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than 80% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than 76% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 76% of counties
Where Aiken County ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 18% of counties
- Cheap childcare$908 a month, better than only 27% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than only 28% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than only 33% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than only 34% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Aiken County
A household needs to earn about $56,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Aiken County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $76,324, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Aiken County's effective rate of 0.47%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Aiken County
Aiken County runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Aiken County.
Who works in Aiken County, and how
Work in Aiken County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Aiken County
Aiken County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 87% of counties and more late-night spots per resident than 69% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Aiken County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Aiken County growing, and who is moving in?
Aiken County has grown about 9% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Augusta, GA metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Aiken County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Aiken County, month by month
Aiken County sees roughly 88 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 57, with lows near 36. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 57° | 45° | 36° |
| April | 76° | 63° | 51° |
| July | 92° | 80° | 71° |
| October | 77° | 64° | 54° |
Flying in and out of Aiken County
The nearest airport, Augusta Regional at Bush Field, is about 16 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charleston AFB/International, about 110 miles away.
The best schools in and around Aiken County
Schools across Aiken County average a C+, better than 58% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Hammond Hill ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
- Chukker Creek ElementaryB · 50% proficient
- Belvedere ElementaryB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- New Ellenton Steam Magnet MiddleA · 60% proficient
- Tall Pines Stem AcademyA− · 55% proficient
- North Augusta MiddleA− · 53% proficient
Top high schools
- Aiken Scholars AcademyA+ · 95% proficient
- South Aiken HighA− · 60% proficient
- North Augusta HighB+ · 53% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Aiken County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Aiken County measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Aiken County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Aiken County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 83% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 12% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Aiken County
Is Aiken County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Aiken County ranks 1,019th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low property taxes, what local pay buys, and fast internet, and lowest on air quality and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Aiken County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $223,705. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $76,324 median income, cost of living beats 83% of counties.
Is Aiken County safe?
Aiken County is safer than 33% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $515 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Aiken County?
July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 57 with lows near 36. That works out to about 88 pleasant days a year, more than 49% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Aiken County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Jackson, Graniteville, and North Augusta & Belvedere. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Aiken County good for families?
Schools beat 58% of counties, crime safety beats 33%, and childcare runs $908 a month.
Is Aiken County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 83% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 80% of counties. About 12% of workers already work from home.
Compare Aiken County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Aiken County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Aiken County represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Aiken County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Aiken County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Aiken County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Aiken County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Aiken County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Aiken County detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.