Best PlacesChesterfield County, SC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Chesterfield County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Chesterfield County ranks 2,619th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. The cost of living against local pay pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on low property taxes.
The best neighborhoods in Chesterfield County
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 Chesterfield County
The parts of Chesterfield County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Jefferson
Fewer homes sit empty and more households have young kids.
Chesterfield
Tree cover is thicker and more adults hold degrees.
Pageland
Heat risk is lower, though health care is harder to reach.
Cheraw
Prices have run up more and crime runs higher.
Scores across Chesterfield County run from about the 2nd to the 46th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Chesterfield County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Chesterfield County ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 84% of counties
- QuietBetter than 80% of counties
- Cheap childcare$581 a month, better than 74% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 74% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than 70% of counties
Where Chesterfield County ranks low
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 9% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 10% of counties
- Household income$51,178 median, better than only 10% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than only 16% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Chesterfield County
A household needs to earn about $32,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Chesterfield County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $51,178, 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 Chesterfield County's effective rate of 0.47%, 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 Chesterfield County
Chesterfield County'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 Chesterfield County.
Who works in Chesterfield County, and how
Work in Chesterfield County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Chesterfield County
Chesterfield County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 89% of counties and less parkland per resident than most counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Chesterfield County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Chesterfield County growing, and who is moving in?
Chesterfield County has lost about 4% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Charlotte, NC.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Chesterfield County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Chesterfield County, month by month
Chesterfield County sees roughly 74 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 56, with lows near 35. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 56° | 44° | 35° |
| April | 76° | 63° | 51° |
| July | 92° | 80° | 72° |
| October | 77° | 64° | 53° |
Flying in and out of Chesterfield County
The nearest airport, Florence Regional, is about 42 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 58 miles away.
The best schools in and around Chesterfield County
Schools across Chesterfield County average a C, better than 43% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Plainview ElementaryB− · 40% proficient
- Ruby ElementaryB− · 40% proficient
- Jefferson ElementaryB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Chesterfield-ruby MiddleC− · 30% proficient
- Long MiddleC− · 30% proficient
- New Heights MiddleD− · 15% proficient
Top high schools
- Mcbee HighA− · 65% proficient
- Chesterfield HighA− · 60% proficient
- Central HighB · 47% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Chesterfield County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Chesterfield County 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 Chesterfield County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Chesterfield County suits
Common questions about living in Chesterfield County
Is Chesterfield County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Chesterfield County ranks 2,619th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low property taxes, quiet, and affordable childcare, and lowest on the cost of living against local pay and education levels. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Chesterfield County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $128,168. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $51,178 median income, cost of living beats 9% of counties.
Is Chesterfield County safe?
Chesterfield County is safer than 23% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $576 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Chesterfield County?
July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 56 with lows near 35. That works out to about 74 pleasant days a year, more than 28% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Chesterfield County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Jefferson, Chesterfield, and Pageland. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Chesterfield County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Chesterfield County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Chesterfield County 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.
Chesterfield County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Chesterfield County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Chesterfield County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Chesterfield County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Chesterfield County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Chesterfield County 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.