Best PlacesArcadia, SC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Arcadia, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Arcadia ranks 37,586th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a strong job market by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Arcadia
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.
Arcadia's strengths and weaknesses
Where Arcadia ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 99% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 99% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 91% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 89% of towns
- BikingBetter than 80% of towns
Where Arcadia ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 1% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 1% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 4% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Arcadia
A household needs to earn about $31,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Arcadia home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $56,754, 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 Arcadia's effective rate of 0.73%, 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 2 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Arcadia
Arcadia runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Arcadia.
Who works in Arcadia, and how
Work in Arcadia centers on professional & technical and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 94%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Arcadia
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Arcadia.
What the weather is like in Arcadia, month by month
Arcadia sees roughly 85 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 52, with lows near 34. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 52° | 42° | 34° |
| April | 73° | 61° | 50° |
| July | 90° | 79° | 70° |
| October | 74° | 62° | 53° |
Flying in and out of Arcadia
The nearest airport, Greenville Spartanburg International, is about 14 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 62 miles away.
The best schools in and around Arcadia
Schools across Arcadia average a C+, better than 49% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Jesse S. Bobo ElementaryD · 20% proficient
- Arcadia ElementaryF · 10% proficient
Top middle schools
- Fairforest MiddleC− · 29% proficient
Top high schools
- Boiling Springs HighA · 71% proficient
- Spartanburg HighA− · 64% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Arcadia school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Arcadia 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 Arcadia against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Arcadia
Is Arcadia a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Arcadia ranks 37,586th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a strong job market, cell coverage, and walkability, and lowest on noise and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Arcadia expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $121,500. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $56,754 median income, cost of living beats 23% of towns.
Is Arcadia safe?
Arcadia is safer than 12% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $647 per resident a year.
Compare Arcadia with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Arcadia. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Arcadia 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.
Arcadia detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Arcadia: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Arcadia: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Arcadia: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Arcadia: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Arcadia 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.
- 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.