Best PlacesBallentine, SC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ballentine, 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.
Ballentine ranks 3,325th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Ballentine
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.
Ballentine's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ballentine ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 96% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 93% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 93% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 93% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 92% of towns
Where Ballentine ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 19% of towns
- Cheap childcare$923 a month, better than only 34% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 43% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 44% of towns
- TransitBetter than only 44% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ballentine
A household needs to earn about $83,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ballentine home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $100,289, 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 Ballentine's effective rate of 0.53%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Ballentine
Ballentine runs older 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 Ballentine.
Who works in Ballentine, and how
Work in Ballentine centers on other services and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 75%
- Work from home 24%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Ballentine
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Ballentine.
What the weather is like in Ballentine, month by month
Ballentine sees roughly 88 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 55, with lows near 37. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 55° | 45° | 37° |
| April | 75° | 63° | 52° |
| July | 91° | 79° | 70° |
| October | 76° | 64° | 55° |
Flying in and out of Ballentine
The nearest airport, Columbia Metro, is about 15 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 76 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ballentine
Schools across Ballentine average an A−, better than 84% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Ballentine ElementaryA− · 60% proficient
- Irmo ElementaryB · 50% proficient
- River Springs ElementaryB · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- Crossroads IntermediateB− · 39% proficient
Top high schools
- Dutch Fork HighA− · 65% proficient
- Irmo HighB+ · 55% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ballentine school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ballentine 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 Ballentine against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Ballentine
Is Ballentine a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ballentine ranks 3,325th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on an educated workforce, fast internet, and health care access, and lowest on noise and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ballentine expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $331,463. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $100,289 median income, cost of living beats 92% of towns.
Is Ballentine safe?
Ballentine is safer than 54% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $357 per resident a year.
Compare Ballentine with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ballentine. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ballentine 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.
Ballentine detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ballentine: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ballentine: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ballentine: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ballentine: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ballentine 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.