Best PlacesPeak, SC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Peak, 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.
Peak ranks 8,066th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Peak
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.
Peak's strengths and weaknesses
Where Peak ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 90% of towns
- Household income$107,244 median, better than 89% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 86% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 86% of towns
Where Peak ranks low
- Short commute31.9 minutes each way, better than only 24% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 25% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 28% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 33% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 36% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Peak
A household needs to earn about $77,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Peak home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $107,244, 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 Peak's effective rate of 0.53%, 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 Peak
Peak runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Peak.
Who works in Peak, and how
Work in Peak centers on retail trade and manufacturing. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Peak
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Peak.
What the weather is like in Peak, month by month
Peak sees roughly 88 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 55, with lows near 37. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 55° | 45° | 37° |
| April | 75° | 63° | 52° |
| July | 91° | 79° | 70° |
| October | 76° | 64° | 55° |
Flying in and out of Peak
The nearest airport, Columbia Metro, is about 22 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 71 miles away.
The best schools in and around Peak
Schools across Peak average an A−, better than 86% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Lake Murray ElementaryA+ · 74% proficient
- Little Mountain ElementaryB · 50% proficient
- Pomaria-garmany ElementaryB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Chapin IntermediateA · 64% proficient
Top high schools
- Chapin HighA+ · 80% proficient
- Fairfield Central HighC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Peak school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Peak 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 Peak against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Peak
Is Peak a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Peak ranks 8,066th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on tree cover, what local pay buys, and high incomes, and lowest on long commutes and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Peak expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $305,103. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $107,244 median income, cost of living beats 90% of towns.
Is Peak safe?
Peak is safer than 28% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $506 per resident a year.
Compare Peak with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Peak. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Peak 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.
Peak detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Peak: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Peak: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Peak: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Peak: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Peak 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.