Best PlacesLodge, SC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lodge, 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.
Lodge ranks 48,186th 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 Lodge
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.
Lodge's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lodge ranks high
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 89% of towns
- Cheap childcare$569 a month, better than 83% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 74% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 71% of towns
Where Lodge ranks low
- Short commute40.9 minutes each way, better than only 4% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Household income$44,650 median, better than only 7% of towns
- School gradeD, better than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lodge
A household needs to earn about $30,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lodge home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $44,650, 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 Lodge's effective rate of 0.64%, 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 3 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Lodge
Lodge 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 Lodge.
Who works in Lodge, and how
Work in Lodge centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Lodge
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Lodge.
What the weather is like in Lodge, month by month
Lodge sees roughly 103 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 60, with lows near 39. The comfortable stretch runs March through May and September through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 60° | 48° | 39° |
| April | 77° | 64° | 53° |
| July | 91° | 80° | 72° |
| October | 78° | 66° | 57° |
Flying in and out of Lodge
Charleston AFB/International sits about 53 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 3.2 million passengers in 2025, with 95 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Lodge
Schools across Lodge average a D, better than 8% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Bells ElementaryD− · 11% proficient
Top middle schools
- Colleton County MiddleD · 19% proficient
- Allendale-fairfax MiddleF · 5% proficient
Top high schools
- Colleton County HighD · 20% proficient
- Allendale Fairfax HighD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lodge school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lodge 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 Lodge against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lodge
Is Lodge a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lodge ranks 48,186th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on quiet, a strong job market, and affordable childcare, and lowest on long commutes and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lodge expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $116,681. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $44,650 median income, cost of living beats 8% of towns.
Is Lodge safe?
Lodge is safer than 6% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $823 per resident a year.
Compare Lodge with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lodge. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lodge 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.
Lodge detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lodge: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lodge: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lodge: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lodge: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lodge 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.