Best PlacesFlorence, SC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Florence metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by Florence Conventions and Visitors Bureau, CC BY-SA 4.0, via commons
Florence ranks 373rd of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on crime and low incomes. It does better on quiet, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in the Florence metro
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.
The best areas in Florence
The towns and districts of the Florence metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Downtown Florence
Local pay stretches further, fewer homes sit empty, and incomes run higher.
Lamar
More households have young kids and more adults hold degrees.
Hartsville
Disaster risk is lower and it is quieter.
Effingham
Tree cover is thicker and crime runs lower.
Darlington
Prices have run up less, though heat risk is higher.
Lake City, Johnsonville & Pamplico
Homes cost less.
Timmonsville
Schools score lower.
Florence shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 1% of the country and others in the top 7%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Florence's strengths and weaknesses
Florence ranks near the bottom because several of the basics fall short at once. Quiet, low property taxes, and a stable housing market carry most of that.
The weak spots are broad rather than narrow: crime, low incomes, and walkability all drag on the score. Those are area averages, and the map below shows which parts run well above them.
Where Florence ranks high
- QuietBetter than 94% of metro areas
- Low property taxBetter than 90% of metro areas
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 72% of metro areas
- State infrastructureBetter than 69% of metro areas
- Tree shadeBetter than 68% of metro areas
Where Florence ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 3% of metro areas
- Household income$61,623 median, better than only 4% of metro areas
- WalkabilityBetter than only 4% of metro areas
- BikingBetter than only 9% of metro areas
- Low vacancyBetter than only 9% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Florence
A household needs to earn about $45,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Florence home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $61,623, 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 Florence's effective rate of 0.47%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Florence
Florence'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 Florence.
Who works in Florence, and how
Work in Florence centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Florence
Florence has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most metro areas and less parkland per resident than most metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Florence and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Florence growing, and who is moving in?
Florence has lost about 3% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Charleston, SC.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Florence go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Florence, month by month
Florence sees roughly 76 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 94 degrees. January highs sit near 60, with lows near 35. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 60° | 47° | 35° |
| April | 80° | 65° | 51° |
| July | 94° | 82° | 73° |
| October | 80° | 66° | 54° |
Flying in and out of Florence
The nearest airport, Florence Regional, is about 3 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charleston AFB/International, about 90 miles away.
The best schools in and around Florence
Schools across Florence average a C, better than 34% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Royall ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
- Carver ElementaryB · 50% proficient
- Latta ElementaryB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- John W. Moore MiddleB+ · 51% proficient
- Latta MiddleB+ · 50% proficient
- Spaulding MiddleB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Hannah Pamplico HighA− · 60% proficient
- South Florence HighB+ · 53% proficient
- West Florence HighB+ · 51% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Florence school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Florence 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 Florence against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Florence suits
Common questions about living in Florence
Is Florence a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Florence ranks 373rd of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on quiet, low property taxes, and a stable housing market, and lowest on crime and low incomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Florence expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $179,071. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $61,623 median income, cost of living beats 10% of metro areas.
Is Florence safe?
Florence is safer than 3% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $717 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Florence?
July highs average about 94 degrees, and January highs near 60 with lows near 35. That works out to about 76 pleasant days a year, more than 34% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Florence?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Downtown Florence, Lamar, and Hartsville. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Florence good for families?
Schools beat 34% of metro areas, crime safety beats 3%, and childcare runs $796 a month.
Is Florence good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 10% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 12% of metro areas. About 9% of workers already work from home.
Compare Florence with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Florence. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Florence 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.
Florence detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Florence: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Florence: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Florence: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Florence: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Florence 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.