Best PlacesBeaufort, SC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Beaufort, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Beaufort ranks 36,217th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Disaster risk pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on walkability.
The best neighborhoods in Beaufort
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.
Beaufort's strengths and weaknesses
Where Beaufort ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 89% of towns
- BikingBetter than 87% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 82% of towns
- Short commute21.8 minutes each way, better than 81% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 77% of towns
Where Beaufort ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 18% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 28% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 32% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Beaufort
A household needs to earn about $83,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Beaufort home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $64,141, 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 Beaufort's effective rate of 0.59%, 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 Beaufort
Beaufort's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Beaufort.
Who works in Beaufort, and how
Work in Beaufort centers on retail trade 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 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Beaufort
Beaufort has more restaurants and bars per resident than 87% of towns and more parkland per resident than 90% of towns. The coast is about 11 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Beaufort and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Beaufort, month by month
Beaufort sees roughly 111 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 94 degrees. January highs sit near 64, with lows near 39. The comfortable stretch runs February through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 64° | 51° | 39° |
| April | 81° | 68° | 55° |
| July | 94° | 83° | 75° |
| October | 83° | 70° | 60° |
Flying in and out of Beaufort
The nearest airport, Hilton Head, is about 15 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charleston AFB/International, about 50 miles away.
The best schools in and around Beaufort
Schools across Beaufort average a C, better than 38% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Coosa ElementaryA · 65% proficient
- Okatie ElementaryB · 50% proficient
- Michael C. Riley ElementaryB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Bluffton MiddleB+ · 49% proficient
- Hilton Head Island MiddleC+ · 38% proficient
- Lady's Island MiddleC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Bluffton HighA · 72% proficient
- Beaufort HighA− · 61% proficient
- Hilton Head Island HighA− · 59% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Beaufort school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Beaufort 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 Beaufort against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Beaufort suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 8% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Beaufort
Is Beaufort a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Beaufort ranks 36,217th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, biking, and cell coverage, 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 Beaufort expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $325,346. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $64,141 median income, cost of living beats 28% of towns.
Is Beaufort safe?
Beaufort is safer than 34% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $511 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Beaufort?
July highs average about 94 degrees, and January highs near 64 with lows near 39. That works out to about 111 pleasant days a year, more than 75% of towns.
Is Beaufort good for families?
Schools beat 38% of towns, crime safety beats 34%, and childcare runs $908 a month.
Compare Beaufort with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Beaufort. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Beaufort 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.
Beaufort detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Beaufort: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Beaufort: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Beaufort: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Beaufort: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Beaufort 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.