Best PlacesLadys Island, SC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ladys Island, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Ladys Island ranks 8,603rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Ladys Island
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.
Ladys Island's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ladys Island ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 94% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 93% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 93% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 92% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 89% of towns
Where Ladys Island ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 23% of towns
- Cheap childcare$908 a month, better than only 36% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 39% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ladys Island
A household needs to earn about $115,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ladys Island home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $100,965, 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 Ladys Island's effective rate of 0.48%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Ladys Island
Ladys Island runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Ladys Island.
Who works in Ladys Island, and how
Work in Ladys Island centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Ladys Island
Ladys Island has more restaurants and bars per resident than 70% of towns. The coast is about 19 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Ladys Island and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Ladys Island, month by month
Ladys Island sees roughly 119 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 Ladys Island
The nearest airport, Hilton Head, is about 16 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charleston AFB/International, about 47 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ladys Island
Schools across Ladys Island average a B, better than 68% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Coosa ElementaryA · 65% proficient
- Beaufort ElementaryC · 35% proficient
- Lady's Island ElementaryD · 20% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lady's Island MiddleC · 35% proficient
- Beaufort MiddleC · 35% proficient
- Whale Branch MiddleD− · 15% proficient
Top high schools
- Beaufort HighA− · 61% proficient
- Battery Creek HighB+ · 55% proficient
- Whale Branch Early College HighB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ladys Island school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ladys Island 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 Ladys Island against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Ladys Island
Is Ladys Island a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ladys Island ranks 8,603rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, few empty homes, and low crime, and lowest on disaster risk and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ladys Island expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $460,724. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $100,965 median income, cost of living beats 87% of towns.
Is Ladys Island safe?
Yes, Ladys Island is safer than 93% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $226 per resident a year.
Compare Ladys Island with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ladys Island. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ladys Island 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.
Ladys Island detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ladys Island: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ladys Island: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ladys Island: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ladys Island: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ladys Island 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.