Best PlacesFort Mill, SC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Fort Mill, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Fort Mill ranks 148th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and biking ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Fort Mill
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 Fort Mill
The parts of Fort Mill, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first.
White Grove
Springfield & Baden Village
Baxter
Forest Lake
Scores across Fort Mill run from about the 44th to the 100th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Fort Mill's strengths and weaknesses
Where Fort Mill ranks high
- School gradeA, better than 96% of cities
- Local economyBetter than 94% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 93% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than 88% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than 87% of cities
Where Fort Mill ranks low
- BikingBetter than only 13% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than only 14% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 25% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 72 pleasant days a year, better than only 30% of cities
- TransitBetter than only 30% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Fort Mill
A household needs to earn about $125,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Fort Mill home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $123,297; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Fort Mill'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 Fort Mill
Fort Mill'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 Fort Mill.
Who works in Fort Mill, and how
Work in Fort Mill centers on finance & insurance and professional & technical. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 69%
- Work from home 29%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Fort Mill
Fort Mill has more restaurants and bars per resident than 98% of cities and more parkland per resident than 77% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Fort Mill and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Fort Mill, month by month
Fort Mill sees roughly 72 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 56, with lows near 30. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 56° | 42° | 30° |
| April | 76° | 62° | 47° |
| July | 92° | 80° | 69° |
| October | 78° | 63° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Fort Mill
Charlotte/Douglas International sits about 13 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 25.9 million passengers in 2025, with 213 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Fort Mill
Schools across Fort Mill average an A, better than 96% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Marvin ElementaryA+ · 86% proficient
- Sandy Ridge ElementaryA+ · 84% proficient
- Tega Cay ElementaryA+ · 75% proficient
Top middle schools
- Marvin Ridge MiddleA+ · 89% proficient
- Pleasant Knoll MiddleA+ · 81% proficient
- Community House MiddleA+ · 81% proficient
Top high schools
- Marvin Ridge HighA+ · 94% proficient
- Ardrey Kell High SchoolA+ · 89% proficient
- Fort Mill HighA+ · 88% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Fort Mill school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Fort Mill 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 Fort Mill against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Fort Mill suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 93% of cities, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 29% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Fort Mill
Is Fort Mill a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Fort Mill ranks 148th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on good schools, a strong job market, and what local pay buys, and lowest on biking and walkability. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Fort Mill expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $492,129. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $123,297 median income, cost of living beats 93% of cities.
Is Fort Mill safe?
Yes, Fort Mill is safer than 78% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $301 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Fort Mill?
July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 56 with lows near 30. That works out to about 72 pleasant days a year, more than 30% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Fort Mill?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are White Grove, Springfield & Baden Village, and Baxter. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Fort Mill with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Fort Mill. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Fort Mill 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.
Fort Mill detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Fort Mill: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Fort Mill: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Fort Mill: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Fort Mill: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Fort Mill 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.