Best PlacesDaufuskie Island, SC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Daufuskie Island, 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.
Daufuskie Island ranks 11,380th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Daufuskie Island
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.
Daufuskie Island's strengths and weaknesses
Where Daufuskie Island ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 99% of towns
- Household income$155,348 median, better than 98% of towns
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
Where Daufuskie Island ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 13% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Daufuskie Island
A household needs to earn about $147,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Daufuskie Island home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $155,348, 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 Daufuskie Island's effective rate of 0.64%, 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 Daufuskie Island
Daufuskie Island 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 Daufuskie Island.
Who works in Daufuskie Island, and how
Work in Daufuskie Island centers on transportation & warehousing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 24%
- Work from home 22%
- Transit, walk, or bike 54%
Life in Daufuskie Island
Daufuskie Island has more restaurants and bars per resident than 99% of towns. The coast is about 74 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Daufuskie Island and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Daufuskie Island, month by month
Daufuskie Island sees roughly 107 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 Daufuskie Island
The nearest airport, Hilton Head, is about 11 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charleston AFB/International, about 71 miles away.
The best schools in and around Daufuskie Island
Schools across Daufuskie Island average a B, better than 69% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Pritchardville ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
- Michael C. Riley ElementaryB · 50% proficient
- Hilton Head Island ElementaryB · 45% 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 Daufuskie Island school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Daufuskie Island 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 Daufuskie Island against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Daufuskie Island
Is Daufuskie Island a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Daufuskie Island ranks 11,380th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, an educated workforce, and what local pay buys, 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 Daufuskie Island expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $575,031. The overall cost of living runs about 2% above the national average. Set against a $155,348 median income, cost of living beats 99% of towns.
Is Daufuskie Island safe?
Daufuskie Island is safer than 4% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $882 per resident a year.
Compare Daufuskie Island with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Daufuskie Island. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Daufuskie Island 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.
Daufuskie Island detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Daufuskie Island: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Daufuskie Island: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Daufuskie Island: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Daufuskie Island: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Daufuskie Island 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.