Best PlacesAwendaw, SC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Awendaw, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Awendaw ranks 3,109th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Awendaw
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.
Awendaw's strengths and weaknesses
Where Awendaw ranks high
- School gradeA, better than 96% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 96% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 95% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 94% of towns
- Household income$125,574 median, better than 94% of towns
Where Awendaw ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 22% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 29% of towns
- Cheap childcare$923 a month, better than only 34% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Awendaw
A household needs to earn about $160,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Awendaw home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $125,574, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Awendaw's effective rate of 0.35%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Awendaw
Awendaw runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Awendaw.
Who works in Awendaw, and how
Work in Awendaw centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 72%
- Work from home 25%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Awendaw
The coast is about 19 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Awendaw, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Awendaw, month by month
Awendaw sees roughly 112 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 60, with lows near 42. The comfortable stretch runs February through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 60° | 50° | 42° |
| April | 76° | 66° | 57° |
| July | 90° | 82° | 75° |
| October | 78° | 68° | 61° |
Flying in and out of Awendaw
Charleston AFB/International sits about 20 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 3.2 million passengers in 2025, with 95 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Awendaw
Schools across Awendaw average an A, better than 96% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Montessori Community SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Henry E. Bonner ElementaryC− · 30% proficient
- St. James Santee Elementary-middleD · 20% proficient
Top middle schools
- Thomas C. Cario MiddleA+ · 75% proficient
- Macedonia MiddleB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Wando HighA+ · 81% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Awendaw school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Awendaw 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 Awendaw against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Awendaw
Is Awendaw a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Awendaw ranks 3,109th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on good schools, an educated workforce, and a strong job market, and lowest on disaster risk and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Awendaw expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $651,871. The overall cost of living runs about 0% above the national average. Set against a $125,574 median income, cost of living beats 94% of towns.
Is Awendaw safe?
Yes, Awendaw is safer than 67% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $340 per resident a year.
Compare Awendaw with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Awendaw. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Awendaw 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.
Awendaw detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Awendaw: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Awendaw: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Awendaw: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Awendaw: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Awendaw 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.