Best PlacesDrake, SC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Drake, 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.
Drake ranks 44,019th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and crime is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Drake
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.
Drake's strengths and weaknesses
Where Drake ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- Cheap childcare$519 a month, better than 90% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 89% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 83% of towns
- QuietBetter than 72% of towns
Where Drake ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 7% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 8% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 11% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Drake
A household needs to earn about $17,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Drake home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $54,045, 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 Drake's effective rate of 0.39%, 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 2 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Drake
Drake runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Drake.
Who works in Drake, and how
Work in Drake centers on manufacturing and construction. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 96%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Drake
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Drake.
What the weather is like in Drake, month by month
Drake sees roughly 67 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 55, with lows near 36. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 55° | 44° | 36° |
| April | 76° | 63° | 51° |
| July | 91° | 80° | 72° |
| October | 77° | 63° | 53° |
Flying in and out of Drake
The nearest airport, Florence Regional, is about 21 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 88 miles away.
The best schools in and around Drake
Schools across Drake average a C−, better than 18% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Rosenwald Elementary/middleD · 20% proficient
- Clio ElementaryF · 10% proficient
Top middle schools
- Blenheim Middle School Of DiscoveryF · 10% proficient
Top high schools
- Marlboro County HighB · 50% proficient
- Darlington HighC+ · 38% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Drake school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Drake 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 Drake against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Drake
Is Drake a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Drake ranks 44,019th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, affordable childcare, and low property taxes, and lowest on crime and education levels. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Drake expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $69,000. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $54,045 median income, cost of living beats 29% of towns.
Is Drake safe?
Drake is safer than 4% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $891 per resident a year.
Compare Drake with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Drake. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Drake 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.
Drake detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Drake: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Drake: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Drake: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Drake: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Drake 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.