Best PlacesEarly Branch, SC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Early Branch, 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.
Early Branch ranks 47,743rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Disaster risk pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on low property taxes.
The best neighborhoods in Early Branch
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.
Early Branch's strengths and weaknesses
Where Early Branch ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 86% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 83% of towns
- Cheap childcare$573 a month, better than 81% of towns
- QuietBetter than 73% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 71% of towns
Where Early Branch ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- School gradeD−, better than only 6% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 14% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Early Branch
A household needs to earn about $39,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Early Branch home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $53,388, 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 Early Branch's effective rate of 0.42%, 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 Early Branch
Early Branch'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 Early Branch.
Who works in Early Branch, and how
Work in Early Branch centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 2%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Early Branch
The coast is about 47 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Early Branch, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Early Branch, month by month
Early Branch sees roughly 99 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 94 degrees. January highs sit near 64, with lows near 39. The comfortable stretch runs February through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 64° | 51° | 39° |
| April | 81° | 68° | 55° |
| July | 94° | 83° | 75° |
| October | 83° | 70° | 60° |
Flying in and out of Early Branch
The nearest airport, Hilton Head, is about 37 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charleston AFB/International, about 54 miles away.
The best schools in and around Early Branch
Schools across Early Branch average a D−, better than 6% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Ridgeland ElementaryD− · 15% proficient
- Hendersonville ElementaryD− · 11% proficient
Top middle schools
- Colleton County MiddleD · 19% proficient
- Whale Branch MiddleD− · 15% proficient
Top high schools
- Whale Branch Early College HighB · 50% proficient
- Colleton County HighD · 20% proficient
- Ridgeland Secondary Academy Of ExcellenceD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Early Branch school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Early Branch 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 Early Branch against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Early Branch
Is Early Branch a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Early Branch ranks 47,743rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low property taxes, a stable housing market, and affordable childcare, and lowest on disaster risk and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Early Branch expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $157,372. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $53,388 median income, cost of living beats 14% of towns.
Is Early Branch safe?
Early Branch is safer than 6% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $813 per resident a year.
Compare Early Branch with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Early Branch. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Early Branch 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.
Early Branch detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Early Branch: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Early Branch: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Early Branch: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Early Branch: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Early Branch 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.