Best PlacesCharleston, SC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Charleston metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by cssilver, Unsplash License, via unsplash
Charleston ranks 214th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on a strong job market and low property taxes. The weaker spots are disaster risk, long commutes, and an overheated housing market.
The best neighborhoods in the Charleston metro
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.
The best areas in Charleston
The towns and districts of the Charleston metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Mount Pleasant
More adults hold degrees, incomes run higher, and schools score higher.
Johns Island
Prices have run up more and fewer households have young kids.
Downtown Charleston
Tree cover is thinner and more homes sit empty.
Ladson
Scores close to Downtown Charleston, except that streets are more car-dependent here.
Goose Creek & Moncks Corner
Homes cost less and crime runs lower.
Hollywood, Ravenel & Wadmalaw Island
It is quieter, though biking is worse.
Summerville
Commutes are longer and health outcomes score lower.
North Charleston & Hanahan
Local pay stretches less far and fewer residents vote.
St. Stephen, Bonneau & Huger
Health care is harder to reach and transit reaches fewer jobs.
Charleston shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 1% of the country and others in the top 2%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Charleston's strengths and weaknesses
Charleston lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. A strong job market, low property taxes, and what local pay buys carry most of that.
The one real hole is disaster risk, near the bottom of the country. Long commutes and an overheated housing market also cost it ground. That varies block to block rather than evenly, and the map below shows where.
Where Charleston ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 92% of metro areas
- Low property taxBetter than 89% of metro areas
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 88% of metro areas
- School gradeB, better than 84% of metro areas
- Educational attainmentBetter than 80% of metro areas
Where Charleston ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 1% of metro areas
- Short commute27.7 minutes each way, better than only 10% of metro areas
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 10% of metro areas
- Heat safetyBetter than only 30% of metro areas
- Crime safetyBetter than only 33% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Charleston
A household needs to earn about $116,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Charleston home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $93,283, 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 Charleston's effective rate of 0.49%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Charleston
Charleston's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Charleston.
Who works in Charleston, and how
Work in Charleston centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Charleston
Charleston has more late-night spots per resident than 95% of metro areas. The coast is about 27 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Charleston and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Charleston growing, and who is moving in?
Charleston has grown about 20% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from New York, NY.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Charleston go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Charleston, month by month
Charleston sees roughly 96 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 64, with lows near 38. The comfortable stretch runs February through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 64° | 50° | 38° |
| April | 80° | 67° | 54° |
| July | 93° | 82° | 74° |
| October | 81° | 69° | 58° |
Flying in and out of Charleston
Charleston AFB/International sits about 8 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 3.2 million passengers in 2025, with 95 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Charleston
Schools across Charleston average a B, better than 84% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Daniel Island SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
- Sullivan's Island ElementaryA+ · 80% proficient
- Mt. Pleasant AcademyA+ · 80% proficient
Top middle schools
- Buist AcademyA+ · 90% proficient
- Rollings Middle School Of The ArtsA+ · 78% proficient
- Thomas C. Cario MiddleA+ · 75% proficient
Top high schools
- Academic Magnet HighA+ · 98% proficient
- Oceanside Collegiate AcademyA+ · 85% proficient
- Wando HighA+ · 81% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Charleston school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Charleston 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 Charleston against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Charleston suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 88% of metro areas, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 15% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 56% of metro areas, health care access beats 80%, and it is quieter than 62%.
Common questions about living in Charleston
Is Charleston a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Charleston ranks 214th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on a strong job market, low property taxes, and what local pay buys, and lowest on disaster risk and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Charleston expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $461,770. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $93,283 median income, cost of living beats 88% of metro areas.
Is Charleston safe?
Charleston is safer than 33% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $482 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Charleston?
July highs average about 93 degrees, and January highs near 64 with lows near 38. That works out to about 96 pleasant days a year, more than 56% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Charleston?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Mount Pleasant, Johns Island, and Downtown Charleston. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Charleston good for families?
Schools beat 84% of metro areas, crime safety beats 33%, and childcare runs $916 a month.
Is Charleston good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 88% of metro areas, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 68% of metro areas. About 15% of workers already work from home.
Compare Charleston with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Charleston. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Charleston 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.
Charleston detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Charleston: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Charleston: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Charleston: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Charleston: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Charleston 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.