Best PlacesHickory Grove, SC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hickory Grove, 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.
Hickory Grove ranks 9,974th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Hickory Grove
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.
Hickory Grove's strengths and weaknesses
Where Hickory Grove ranks high
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 90% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 85% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 82% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 78% of towns
Where Hickory Grove ranks low
- Short commute39.8 minutes each way, better than only 6% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 16% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 34% of towns
- Cheap childcare$908 a month, better than only 36% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 40% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Hickory Grove
A household needs to earn about $54,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hickory Grove home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $89,682, 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 Hickory Grove's effective rate of 0.50%, 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 Hickory Grove
Hickory Grove runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Hickory Grove.
Who works in Hickory Grove, and how
Work in Hickory Grove centers on finance & insurance and construction. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 72%
- Work from home 27%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Hickory Grove
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Hickory Grove.
What the weather is like in Hickory Grove, month by month
Hickory Grove sees roughly 88 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 52, with lows near 35. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 52° | 43° | 35° |
| April | 73° | 61° | 50° |
| July | 90° | 79° | 70° |
| October | 74° | 63° | 53° |
Flying in and out of Hickory Grove
Charlotte/Douglas International sits about 32 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 Hickory Grove
Schools across Hickory Grove average a B, better than 64% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Hickory Grove-sharon ElementaryB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- York Comprehensive HighB+ · 57% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hickory Grove school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hickory Grove 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 Hickory Grove against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Hickory Grove
Is Hickory Grove a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hickory Grove ranks 9,974th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on quiet, fast internet, and low crime, and lowest on long commutes and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Hickory Grove expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $215,205. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $89,682 median income, cost of living beats 78% of towns.
Is Hickory Grove safe?
Yes, Hickory Grove is safer than 85% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $243 per resident a year.
Compare Hickory Grove with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hickory Grove. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hickory Grove 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.
Hickory Grove detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hickory Grove: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hickory Grove: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hickory Grove: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hickory Grove: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hickory Grove 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.