Best PlacesMount Pleasant, SC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Mount Pleasant, 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.
Mount Pleasant ranks 455th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Mount Pleasant
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.
Mount Pleasant's strengths and weaknesses
Where Mount Pleasant ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 98% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than 98% of cities
- School gradeA+, better than 96% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than 93% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than 90% of cities
Where Mount Pleasant ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 1% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than only 17% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than only 20% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than only 24% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Mount Pleasant
A household needs to earn about $189,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mount Pleasant home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $130,207, 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 Mount Pleasant's effective rate of 0.34%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Mount Pleasant
Mount Pleasant 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 Mount Pleasant.
Who works in Mount Pleasant, and how
Work in Mount Pleasant centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 71%
- Work from home 27%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Mount Pleasant
Mount Pleasant has more restaurants and bars per resident than 83% of cities and more parkland per resident than 93% of cities. The coast is about 10 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Mount Pleasant and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Mount Pleasant, month by month
Mount Pleasant sees roughly 109 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 60, with lows near 42. The comfortable stretch runs February through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 60° | 50° | 42° |
| April | 76° | 66° | 57° |
| July | 90° | 82° | 75° |
| October | 78° | 68° | 61° |
Flying in and out of Mount Pleasant
Charleston AFB/International sits about 13 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 Mount Pleasant
Schools across Mount Pleasant average an A+, better than 96% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Mt. Pleasant AcademyA+ · 80% proficient
- East Cooper Montessori CharterA+ · 80% proficient
- Charles Pinckney ElementaryA+ · 75% proficient
Top middle schools
- Thomas C. Cario MiddleA+ · 75% proficient
- Laing MiddleA+ · 72% proficient
- Moultrie MiddleA+ · 71% proficient
Top high schools
- Oceanside Collegiate AcademyA+ · 85% proficient
- Wando HighA+ · 81% proficient
- Hanahan HighA · 67% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Mount Pleasant school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Mount Pleasant 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 Mount Pleasant against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Mount Pleasant suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 86% of cities and 27% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 65% of cities, health care access beats 98%, and it is quieter than 79%.
Common questions about living in Mount Pleasant
Is Mount Pleasant a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mount Pleasant ranks 455th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on low property taxes, health care access, and good schools, and lowest on an overheated housing market and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Mount Pleasant expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $771,512. The overall cost of living runs about 4% above the national average. Set against a $130,207 median income, cost of living beats 86% of cities.
Is Mount Pleasant safe?
Yes, Mount Pleasant is safer than 70% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $349 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Mount Pleasant?
July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 60 with lows near 42. That works out to about 109 pleasant days a year, more than 65% of cities.
Is Mount Pleasant good for families?
Schools beat 96% of cities, crime safety beats 70%, and childcare runs $923 a month.
Compare Mount Pleasant with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mount Pleasant. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mount Pleasant 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.
Mount Pleasant detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mount Pleasant: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mount Pleasant: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mount Pleasant: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mount Pleasant: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mount Pleasant 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.