Best PlacesGoose Creek, SC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Goose Creek, 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.
Goose Creek ranks 1,302nd of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Goose Creek
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 Goose Creek
The parts of Goose Creek, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first.
The Hamlets
Stratford Forest & Oak Creek
Harbour Lake & St James Estates
Scores across Goose Creek run from about the 9th to the 86th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Goose Creek's strengths and weaknesses
Where Goose Creek ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 92% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than 91% of cities
- QuietBetter than 84% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than 72% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than 70% of cities
Where Goose Creek ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 1% of cities
- TransitBetter than only 13% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than only 18% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than only 26% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 27% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Goose Creek
A household needs to earn about $74,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Goose Creek home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $84,621, 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 Goose Creek's effective rate of 0.52%, 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 Goose Creek
Goose Creek runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Goose Creek.
Who works in Goose Creek, and how
Work in Goose Creek centers on retail trade and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Goose Creek
Goose Creek has more restaurants and bars per resident than 65% of cities and more parkland per resident than 79% of cities. The coast is about 30 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Goose Creek and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Goose Creek, month by month
Goose Creek sees roughly 84 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 64, with lows near 38. The comfortable stretch runs February through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 64° | 50° | 38° |
| April | 80° | 67° | 54° |
| July | 93° | 82° | 74° |
| October | 81° | 69° | 58° |
Flying in and out of Goose Creek
Charleston AFB/International sits about 7 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 Goose Creek
Schools across Goose Creek average a B−, better than 60% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Montessori Community SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Marrington ElementaryA · 70% proficient
- Howe Hall Aims ElementaryA− · 60% proficient
Top middle schools
- Marrington Middle School Of The ArtsA+ · 75% proficient
- Westview MiddleB+ · 49% proficient
- Hanahan MiddleB · 45% proficient
Top high schools
- Hanahan HighA · 67% proficient
- Stratford HighA− · 64% proficient
- Goose Creek HighB− · 42% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Goose Creek school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Goose Creek 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 Goose Creek against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Goose Creek suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 11% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Goose Creek
Is Goose Creek a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Goose Creek ranks 1,302nd of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on low property taxes, tree cover, and quiet, and lowest on disaster risk and transit. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Goose Creek expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $294,036. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $84,621 median income, cost of living beats 59% of cities.
Is Goose Creek safe?
Yes, Goose Creek is safer than 70% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $330 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Goose Creek?
July highs average about 93 degrees, and January highs near 64 with lows near 38. That works out to about 84 pleasant days a year, more than 48% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Goose Creek?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are The Hamlets, Stratford Forest & Oak Creek, and Harbour Lake & St James Estates. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Goose Creek with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Goose Creek. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Goose Creek 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.
Goose Creek detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Goose Creek: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Goose Creek: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Goose Creek: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Goose Creek: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Goose Creek 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.