Best PlacesOld House, SC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Old House, 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.
Old House ranks 43,223rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Old House
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.
Old House's strengths and weaknesses
Where Old House ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 96% of towns
- Cheap childcare$552 a month, better than 87% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 85% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 80% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 78% of towns
Where Old House ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- School gradeD, better than only 6% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Old House
A household needs to earn about $77,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Old House home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $65,995, 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 Old House's effective rate of 0.67%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Old House
Old House runs older 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 Old House.
Who works in Old House, and how
Work in Old House centers on admin & support services and manufacturing. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Old House
The coast is about 26 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Old House, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Old House, month by month
Old House sees roughly 97 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 94 degrees. January highs sit near 64, with lows near 39. The comfortable stretch runs February through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 64° | 51° | 39° |
| April | 81° | 68° | 55° |
| July | 94° | 83° | 75° |
| October | 83° | 70° | 60° |
Flying in and out of Old House
The nearest airport, Hilton Head, is about 19 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charleston AFB/International, about 60 miles away.
The best schools in and around Old House
Schools across Old House average a D, better than 6% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Ridgeland ElementaryD− · 15% proficient
Top high schools
- Ridgeland Secondary Academy Of ExcellenceD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Old House school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Old House 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 Old House against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Old House
Is Old House a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Old House ranks 43,223rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, affordable childcare, and few empty homes, and lowest on a weak job 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 Old House expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $298,800. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $65,995 median income, cost of living beats 40% of towns.
Is Old House safe?
Old House is safer than 20% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $533 per resident a year.
Compare Old House with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Old House. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Old House 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.
Old House detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Old House: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Old House: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Old House: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Old House: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Old House 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.