Best PlacesCayce, SC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cayce, 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.
Cayce ranks 22,244th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Cayce
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.
Cayce's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cayce ranks high
- TransitBetter than 98% of towns
- BikingBetter than 95% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 94% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 92% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 90% of towns
Where Cayce ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 4% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 17% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 19% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 24% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 26% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Cayce
A household needs to earn about $47,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cayce home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $66,034, 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 Cayce's effective rate of 0.46%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Cayce
Cayce'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 Cayce.
Who works in Cayce, and how
Work in Cayce centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Cayce
Cayce has more restaurants and bars per resident than 86% of towns and more parkland per resident than 93% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Cayce and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Cayce, month by month
Cayce sees roughly 73 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 95 degrees. January highs sit near 61, with lows near 35. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 61° | 47° | 35° |
| April | 80° | 65° | 51° |
| July | 95° | 82° | 73° |
| October | 81° | 67° | 54° |
Flying in and out of Cayce
The nearest airport, Columbia Metro, is about 3 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 87 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cayce
Schools across Cayce average a C+, better than 46% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Springdale ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
- Saxe Gotha ElementaryB− · 40% proficient
- Saluda River Academy For The ArtsB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- R. H. Fulmer MiddleB− · 40% proficient
- White Knoll MiddleC · 32% proficient
- Cyril B. Busbee Creative Arts AcademyD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Dreher HighA− · 61% proficient
- Brookland-cayce HighB+ · 56% proficient
- Airport HighB+ · 52% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cayce school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cayce 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 Cayce against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Cayce
Is Cayce a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cayce ranks 22,244th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, biking, and walkability, and lowest on noise and summer heat. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cayce expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $188,146. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $66,034 median income, cost of living beats 48% of towns.
Is Cayce safe?
Cayce is safer than 19% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $640 per resident a year.
Compare Cayce with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cayce. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cayce 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.
Cayce detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cayce: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cayce: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cayce: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cayce: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cayce 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.