Best PlacesDorchester, SC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Dorchester, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Dorchester ranks 45,843rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Dorchester
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.
Dorchester's strengths and weaknesses
Where Dorchester ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 92% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 71% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 101 pleasant days a year, better than 69% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 68% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 64% of towns
Where Dorchester ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- School gradeD, better than only 6% of towns
- Short commute37.0 minutes each way, better than only 10% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 12% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 17% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Dorchester
A household needs to earn about $60,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Dorchester home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $60,229, 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 Dorchester's effective rate of 0.58%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Dorchester
Dorchester runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Dorchester.
Who works in Dorchester, and how
Work in Dorchester centers on manufacturing and education. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Dorchester
The coast is about 58 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Dorchester, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Dorchester, month by month
Dorchester sees roughly 101 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 60, with lows near 40. The comfortable stretch runs February through May and September through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 60° | 49° | 40° |
| April | 77° | 65° | 54° |
| July | 91° | 81° | 73° |
| October | 78° | 67° | 58° |
Flying in and out of Dorchester
Charleston AFB/International sits about 28 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 Dorchester
Schools across Dorchester average a D, better than 6% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Montessori Community SchoolA · 70% proficient
- William Memorial ElementaryC · 35% proficient
- Harleyville ElementaryF · 10% proficient
Top middle schools
- St. George MiddleB− · 40% proficient
- Harleyville-ridgeville MiddleF · 11% proficient
Top high schools
- West Ashley HighA− · 64% proficient
- Woodland HighC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Dorchester school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Dorchester 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 Dorchester against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Dorchester
Is Dorchester a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Dorchester ranks 45,843rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, state infrastructure, and the weather, and lowest on disaster risk and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Dorchester expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $238,303. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $60,229 median income, cost of living beats 31% of towns.
Is Dorchester safe?
Dorchester is safer than 12% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $639 per resident a year.
Compare Dorchester with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Dorchester. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Dorchester 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.
Dorchester detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Dorchester: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Dorchester: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Dorchester: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Dorchester: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Dorchester 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.