Best PlacesGowensville, SC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Gowensville, 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.
Gowensville ranks 7,626th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Gowensville
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.
Gowensville's strengths and weaknesses
Where Gowensville ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 97% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 92% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 90% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 86% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 86% of towns
Where Gowensville ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 11% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 63 pleasant days a year, better than only 13% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 30% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 30% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 32% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Gowensville
A household needs to earn about $99,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Gowensville home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $85,539, 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 Gowensville'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 Gowensville
Gowensville runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Gowensville.
Who works in Gowensville, and how
Work in Gowensville centers on retail trade and construction. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Gowensville
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Gowensville.
What the weather is like in Gowensville, month by month
Gowensville sees roughly 63 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 56, with lows near 31. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 56° | 43° | 31° |
| April | 77° | 62° | 48° |
| July | 92° | 79° | 69° |
| October | 78° | 63° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Gowensville
The nearest airport, Greenville Spartanburg International, is about 15 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 73 miles away.
The best schools in and around Gowensville
Schools across Gowensville average a B+, better than 82% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Skyland ElementaryA · 65% proficient
- O. P. Earle ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
- Holly Springs-motlow ElementaryB · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- Blue Ridge MiddleB+ · 50% proficient
- Landrum MiddleB · 45% proficient
Top high schools
- Landrum HighA− · 65% proficient
- Chapman HighA− · 61% proficient
- Blue Ridge HighA− · 60% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Gowensville school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Gowensville 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 Gowensville against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Gowensville
Is Gowensville a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Gowensville ranks 7,626th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, civic engagement, and low disaster risk, and lowest on an overheated housing market and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Gowensville expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $398,775. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $85,539 median income, cost of living beats 78% of towns.
Is Gowensville safe?
Yes, Gowensville is safer than 81% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $269 per resident a year.
Compare Gowensville with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Gowensville. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Gowensville 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.
Gowensville detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Gowensville: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Gowensville: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Gowensville: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Gowensville: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Gowensville 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.