Best PlacesBamberg, SC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Bamberg, 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.
Bamberg ranks 48,447th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and crime is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Bamberg
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.
Bamberg's strengths and weaknesses
Where Bamberg ranks high
- Cheap childcare$519 a month, better than 90% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 85% of towns
- BikingBetter than 84% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 72% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 71% of towns
Where Bamberg ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 7% of towns
- School gradeD−, better than only 8% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 9% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Bamberg
A household needs to earn about $35,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bamberg home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $56,378, 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 Bamberg's effective rate of 0.69%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Bamberg
Bamberg runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Bamberg.
Who works in Bamberg, and how
Work in Bamberg centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Bamberg
Bamberg has more restaurants and bars per resident than 82% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Bamberg and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Bamberg, month by month
Bamberg sees roughly 95 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 61, with lows near 37. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 61° | 48° | 37° |
| April | 79° | 65° | 51° |
| July | 93° | 81° | 72° |
| October | 81° | 67° | 55° |
Flying in and out of Bamberg
The nearest airport, Columbia Metro, is about 46 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charleston AFB/International, about 63 miles away.
Bamberg 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 Bamberg against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Bamberg
Is Bamberg a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bamberg ranks 48,447th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, walkability, and biking, and lowest on crime and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Bamberg expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $134,889. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $56,378 median income, cost of living beats 25% of towns.
Is Bamberg safe?
Bamberg is safer than 0% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,450 per resident a year.
Compare Bamberg with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bamberg. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bamberg 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.
Bamberg detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bamberg: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bamberg: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bamberg: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bamberg: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bamberg 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.