Best PlacesFreedman, SC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Freedman, 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.
Freedman ranks 36,401st 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 Freedman
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.
Freedman's strengths and weaknesses
Where Freedman ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 93% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 92% of towns
- QuietBetter than 91% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 86% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 84% of towns
Where Freedman ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Freedman
A household needs to earn about $149,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Freedman home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $76,681, 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 Freedman'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 Freedman
Freedman 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 Freedman.
Who works in Freedman, and how
Work in Freedman centers on real estate and public administration. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 75%
- Work from home 21%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Freedman
The coast is about 11 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Freedman, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Freedman, month by month
Freedman sees roughly 122 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 60, with lows near 43. The comfortable stretch runs February through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 60° | 50° | 43° |
| April | 76° | 66° | 59° |
| July | 90° | 82° | 76° |
| October | 78° | 69° | 63° |
Flying in and out of Freedman
Charleston AFB/International sits about 30 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 Freedman
Schools across Freedman average a C−, better than 27% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Montessori Community SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Cottageville ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
- Jane Edwards ElementaryD+ · 21% 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
- Colleton County HighD · 20% proficient
- Baptist Hill HighD− · 15% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Freedman school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Freedman 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 Freedman against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Freedman
Is Freedman a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Freedman ranks 36,401st 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 Freedman expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $600,897. The overall cost of living runs about 11% above the national average. Set against a $76,681 median income, cost of living beats 45% of towns.
Is Freedman safe?
Freedman is safer than 20% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $563 per resident a year.
Compare Freedman with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Freedman. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Freedman 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.
Freedman detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Freedman: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Freedman: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Freedman: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Freedman: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Freedman 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.