Best PlacesBrighton Beach, SC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Brighton Beach, 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.
Brighton Beach ranks 15,699th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on population health by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Brighton Beach
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.
Brighton Beach's strengths and weaknesses
Where Brighton Beach ranks high
- Health outlookBetter than 97% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 95% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 94% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 93% of towns
- Household income$118,306 median, better than 93% of towns
Where Brighton Beach ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 17% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 19% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Brighton Beach
A household needs to earn about $74,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Brighton Beach home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $118,306, 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 Brighton Beach's effective rate of 0.31%, 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 Brighton Beach
Brighton Beach 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 Brighton Beach.
Who works in Brighton Beach, and how
Work in Brighton Beach centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Brighton Beach
The coast is about 14 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Brighton Beach, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Brighton Beach, month by month
Brighton Beach sees roughly 135 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 60, with lows near 44. The comfortable stretch runs February through May and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 60° | 51° | 44° |
| April | 75° | 67° | 60° |
| July | 89° | 83° | 77° |
| October | 78° | 71° | 64° |
Flying in and out of Brighton Beach
The nearest airport, Hilton Head, is about 7 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charleston AFB/International, about 65 miles away.
The best schools in and around Brighton Beach
Schools across Brighton Beach average a B, better than 70% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Pritchardville ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
- Michael C. Riley ElementaryB · 50% proficient
- Red Cedar ElementaryB · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- Bluffton MiddleB+ · 49% proficient
- Hilton Head Island MiddleC+ · 38% proficient
Top high schools
- Bluffton HighA · 72% proficient
- Hilton Head Island HighA− · 59% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Brighton Beach school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Brighton Beach 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 Brighton Beach against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Brighton Beach
Is Brighton Beach a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Brighton Beach ranks 15,699th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on population health, few empty homes, and low property taxes, and lowest on an overheated housing market and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Brighton Beach expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $304,044. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $118,306 median income, cost of living beats 93% of towns.
Is Brighton Beach safe?
Brighton Beach is safer than 20% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $536 per resident a year.
Compare Brighton Beach with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Brighton Beach. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Brighton Beach 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.
Brighton Beach detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Brighton Beach: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Brighton Beach: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Brighton Beach: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Brighton Beach: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Brighton Beach 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.