Best PlacesParris Island, SC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Parris Island, 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.
Parris Island ranks 38,971st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Disaster risk pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on cell coverage.
The best neighborhoods in Parris Island
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.
Parris Island's strengths and weaknesses
Where Parris Island ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 86% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 86% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 125 pleasant days a year, better than 83% of towns
- QuietBetter than 77% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 73% of towns
Where Parris Island ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Short commute39.4 minutes each way, better than only 6% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Parris Island
A household needs to earn about $27,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Parris Island home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $83,482, 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 Parris Island's effective rate of 0.43%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Parris Island
Parris Island 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 Parris Island.
Who works in Parris Island, and how
Work in Parris Island centers on finance & insurance and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 97%
- Work from home 2%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Parris Island
The coast is about 16 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Parris Island, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Parris Island, month by month
Parris Island sees roughly 125 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 60, with lows near 43. The comfortable stretch runs February through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 60° | 50° | 43° |
| April | 76° | 66° | 59° |
| July | 90° | 82° | 76° |
| October | 78° | 69° | 63° |
Flying in and out of Parris Island
The nearest airport, Hilton Head, is about 9 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charleston AFB/International, about 52 miles away.
The best schools in and around Parris Island
Schools across Parris Island average a C, better than 43% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Lady's Island ElementaryD · 20% proficient
- St. Helena ElementaryD− · 11% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lady's Island MiddleC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Beaufort HighA− · 61% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Parris Island school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Parris Island 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 Parris Island against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Parris Island
Is Parris Island a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Parris Island ranks 38,971st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cell coverage, low property taxes, and the weather, and lowest on disaster risk and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Parris Island expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $109,100. The overall cost of living runs about 3% above the national average. Set against a $83,482 median income, cost of living beats 61% of towns.
Is Parris Island safe?
Parris Island is safer than 28% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $468 per resident a year.
Compare Parris Island with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Parris Island. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Parris Island 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.
Parris Island detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Parris Island: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Parris Island: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Parris Island: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Parris Island: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Parris Island 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.