Best PlacesLake City, SC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lake City, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Lake City ranks 47,494th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Crime pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on walkability.
The best neighborhoods in Lake City
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.
Lake City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lake City ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 85% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 81% of towns
- BikingBetter than 81% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 71% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 67% of towns
Where Lake City ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- School gradeD−, better than only 7% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 9% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Household income$48,537 median, better than only 11% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lake City
A household needs to earn about $40,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lake City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $48,537, 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 Lake City's effective rate of 0.46%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Lake City
Lake City 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 Lake City.
Who works in Lake City, and how
Work in Lake City centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Lake City
Lake City has more restaurants and bars per resident than 81% of towns and more parkland per resident than 90% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Lake City and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Lake City, month by month
Lake City sees roughly 91 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 57, with lows near 36. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 57° | 45° | 36° |
| April | 76° | 63° | 51° |
| July | 90° | 79° | 71° |
| October | 77° | 64° | 54° |
Flying in and out of Lake City
The nearest airport, Florence Regional, is about 22 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charleston AFB/International, about 69 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lake City
Schools across Lake City average a D−, better than 7% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Johnsonville ElementaryC · 35% proficient
- Scranton ElementaryD · 20% proficient
- Hemingway ElementaryD− · 11% proficient
Top middle schools
- Johnsonville MiddleD · 20% proficient
- C. E. Murray MiddleD · 20% proficient
- Hemingway Mb Lee MiddleF · 5% proficient
Top high schools
- Johnsonville HighB− · 45% proficient
- J. Paul Truluck Creative Arts And Science MagnetC+ · 40% proficient
- Lake City HighD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lake City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lake City 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 Lake City against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lake City
Is Lake City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lake City ranks 47,494th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, low property taxes, and biking, and lowest on crime and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lake City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $159,410. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $48,537 median income, cost of living beats 17% of towns.
Is Lake City safe?
Lake City is safer than 3% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,038 per resident a year.
Compare Lake City with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lake City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lake City 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.
Lake City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lake City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lake City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lake City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lake City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lake City 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.