Best PlacesNorth Santee, SC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around North Santee, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
North Santee ranks 44,630th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in North Santee
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.
North Santee's strengths and weaknesses
Where North Santee ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 96% of towns
- QuietBetter than 89% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 85% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 82% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 119 pleasant days a year, better than 80% of towns
Where North Santee ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 13% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in North Santee
A household needs to earn about $104,000 a year to comfortably buy the median North Santee home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $74,552, 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 North Santee's effective rate of 0.28%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in North Santee
North Santee runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for North Santee.
Who works in North Santee, and how
Work in North Santee centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 0%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in North Santee
The coast is about 33 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across North Santee, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in North Santee, month by month
North Santee sees roughly 119 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 58, with lows near 38. The comfortable stretch runs March through May and September through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 58° | 47° | 38° |
| April | 75° | 63° | 53° |
| July | 89° | 79° | 72° |
| October | 76° | 66° | 57° |
Flying in and out of North Santee
The nearest airport, Myrtle Beach International, is about 40 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charleston AFB/International, about 45 miles away.
The best schools in and around North Santee
Schools across North Santee average a D+, better than 14% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Henry E. Bonner ElementaryC− · 30% proficient
- St. James Santee Elementary-middleD · 20% proficient
- Sampit ElementaryD− · 11% proficient
Top middle schools
- Waccamaw IntermediateA · 61% proficient
- Macedonia MiddleB− · 40% proficient
- Georgetown MiddleD · 21% proficient
Top high schools
- Waccamaw HighA · 72% proficient
- Philip Simmons HighA · 70% proficient
- Georgetown HighB · 47% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every North Santee school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
North Santee 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 North Santee against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in North Santee
Is North Santee a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, North Santee ranks 44,630th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low property taxes, quiet, and fast internet, and lowest on disaster risk and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is North Santee expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $428,300. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $74,552 median income, cost of living beats 46% of towns.
Is North Santee safe?
North Santee is safer than 2% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,018 per resident a year.
Compare North Santee with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to North Santee. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in North Santee 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.
North Santee detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for North Santee: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in North Santee: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of North Santee: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in North Santee: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
North Santee 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.