Best PlacesEdisto Island, SC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Edisto Island, 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.
Edisto Island ranks 37,089th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Edisto 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.
Edisto Island's strengths and weaknesses
Where Edisto Island ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 92% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 91% of towns
- QuietBetter than 90% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 87% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 86% of towns
Where Edisto Island ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 13% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Edisto Island
A household needs to earn about $116,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Edisto Island home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $74,392, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Edisto Island'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 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 Edisto Island
Edisto 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 Edisto Island.
Who works in Edisto Island, and how
Work in Edisto Island centers on hospitality & food and construction. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Edisto Island
Edisto Island has more parkland per resident than 99% of towns. The coast is about 10 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Edisto Island and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Edisto Island, month by month
Edisto Island sees roughly 118 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 60, with lows near 42. The comfortable stretch runs February through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 60° | 50° | 42° |
| April | 76° | 66° | 58° |
| July | 90° | 82° | 76° |
| October | 79° | 69° | 62° |
Flying in and out of Edisto Island
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 Edisto Island
Schools across Edisto Island average a C−, better than 24% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Montessori Community SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Jane Edwards ElementaryD+ · 21% proficient
- St. Helena ElementaryD− · 11% proficient
Top middle schools
- Haut Gap MiddleB− · 40% proficient
- Lady's Island MiddleC · 35% proficient
- Colleton County MiddleD · 19% proficient
Top high schools
- Beaufort HighA− · 61% proficient
- St. Johns HighC+ · 40% proficient
- Colleton County HighD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Edisto Island school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Edisto 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 Edisto Island against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Edisto Island
Is Edisto Island a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Edisto Island ranks 37,089th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on an educated workforce, health care access, and quiet, 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 Edisto Island expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $469,995. The overall cost of living runs about 10% above the national average. Set against a $74,392 median income, cost of living beats 42% of towns.
Is Edisto Island safe?
Edisto Island is safer than 13% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $647 per resident a year.
Compare Edisto Island with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Edisto Island. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Edisto 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.
Edisto Island detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Edisto Island: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Edisto Island: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Edisto Island: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Edisto Island: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Edisto 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.