Best PlacesLaurens County, SC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Laurens County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Laurens County ranks 2,314th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores best on low property taxes, and walkability ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Laurens County
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 Laurens County
The parts of Laurens County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Fountain Inn & Gray Court
Fewer homes sit empty, more households have young kids, and local pay stretches further.
Clinton
More adults hold degrees, though it is noisier.
Waterloo
Tree cover is thicker and homes cost less.
Laurens
Incomes run lower and prices have run up more.
Scores across Laurens County run from about the 3rd to the 63rd percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Laurens County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Laurens County ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 87% of counties
- Cheap childcare$552 a month, better than 83% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than 81% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 76% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 69% of counties
Where Laurens County ranks low
- WalkabilityBetter than only 12% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than only 14% of counties
- BikingBetter than only 17% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 18% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 26% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Laurens County
A household needs to earn about $42,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Laurens County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $60,286, 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 Laurens County's effective rate of 0.45%, 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 Laurens County
Laurens County's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Laurens County.
Who works in Laurens County, and how
Work in Laurens County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Laurens County
Laurens County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and less parkland per resident than most counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Laurens County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Laurens County growing, and who is moving in?
Laurens County has grown about 6% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Greenville, SC metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Laurens County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Laurens County, month by month
Laurens County sees roughly 85 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 53, with lows near 35. The comfortable stretch runs March through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 53° | 43° | 35° |
| April | 74° | 61° | 50° |
| July | 90° | 79° | 70° |
| October | 75° | 62° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Laurens County
The nearest airport, Greenville Spartanburg International, is about 29 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 78 miles away.
The best schools in and around Laurens County
Schools across Laurens County average a C, better than 37% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Rudolph G. Gordon School At Jones MillA− · 59% proficient
- Ninety Six ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
- Woodruff ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- Woodruff MiddleB · 43% proficient
- Edgewood MiddleB− · 40% proficient
- Bryson MiddleC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Greenwood HighA · 75% proficient
- Woodruff HighA · 70% proficient
- Ninety Six HighB+ · 55% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Laurens County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Laurens County 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 Laurens County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Laurens County suits
Common questions about living in Laurens County
Is Laurens County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Laurens County ranks 2,314th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low property taxes, affordable childcare, and tree cover, and lowest on walkability and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Laurens County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $168,123. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $60,286 median income, cost of living beats 28% of counties.
Is Laurens County safe?
Laurens County is safer than 14% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $657 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Laurens County?
July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 53 with lows near 35. That works out to about 85 pleasant days a year, more than 46% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Laurens County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Fountain Inn & Gray Court, Clinton, and Waterloo. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Laurens County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Laurens County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Laurens County 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.
Laurens County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Laurens County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Laurens County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Laurens County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Laurens County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Laurens County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.