Best PlacesOrangeburg County, SC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Orangeburg 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.
Orangeburg County ranks 3,085th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Crime pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on affordable childcare.
The best neighborhoods in Orangeburg 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 Orangeburg County
The parts of Orangeburg 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.
North
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and it is quieter.
Brookdale
More households have young kids and fewer homes sit empty.
Holly Hill, Eutawville & Bowman
Tree cover is thicker, though commutes are longer.
Santee
Prices have run up more.
Orangeburg
Fewer residents vote and crime runs higher.
Scores across Orangeburg County run from about the 1st to the 63rd percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Orangeburg County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Orangeburg County ranks high
- Cheap childcare$552 a month, better than 83% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than 69% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than 68% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 67% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than 63% of counties
Where Orangeburg County ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 1% of counties
- School gradeD−, better than only 5% of counties
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 6% of counties
- Household income$49,548 median, better than only 8% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 8% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Orangeburg County
A household needs to earn about $34,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Orangeburg County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $49,548, 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 Orangeburg County's effective rate of 0.59%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Orangeburg County
Orangeburg County runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Orangeburg County.
Who works in Orangeburg County, and how
Work in Orangeburg County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment sits 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 Orangeburg County
Orangeburg County has more late-night spots per resident than 82% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Orangeburg County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Orangeburg County growing, and who is moving in?
Orangeburg County has lost about 8% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Columbia, SC.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Orangeburg County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Orangeburg County, month by month
Orangeburg County sees roughly 93 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 61, with lows near 37. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 61° | 48° | 37° |
| April | 79° | 65° | 51° |
| July | 93° | 81° | 72° |
| October | 81° | 67° | 55° |
Flying in and out of Orangeburg County
The nearest airport, Columbia Metro, is about 37 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charleston AFB/International, about 59 miles away.
The best schools in and around Orangeburg County
Schools across Orangeburg County average a D−, better than 5% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Sandy Run SchoolC · 35% proficient
- William Memorial ElementaryC · 35% proficient
- Cyril B. Busbee ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- St. George MiddleB− · 40% proficient
- Pelion MiddleD+ · 25% proficient
- A. L. Corbett MiddleD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Calhoun County HighC+ · 35% proficient
- Woodland HighC− · 30% proficient
- Cross HighC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Orangeburg County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Orangeburg 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 Orangeburg County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Orangeburg County suits
Common questions about living in Orangeburg County
Is Orangeburg County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Orangeburg County ranks 3,085th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on affordable childcare, low property taxes, and tree cover, and lowest on crime and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Orangeburg County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $133,793. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $49,548 median income, cost of living beats 6% of counties.
Is Orangeburg County safe?
Orangeburg County is safer than 1% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,360 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Orangeburg County?
July highs average about 93 degrees, and January highs near 61 with lows near 37. That works out to about 93 pleasant days a year, more than 55% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Orangeburg County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are North, Brookdale, and Holly Hill, Eutawville & Bowman. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Orangeburg County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Orangeburg County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Orangeburg 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.
Orangeburg County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Orangeburg County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Orangeburg County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Orangeburg County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Orangeburg County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Orangeburg 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.