Best PlacesPelion, SC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Pelion, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Pelion ranks 31,521st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and education levels rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Pelion
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.
Pelion's strengths and weaknesses
Where Pelion ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 96% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 86% of towns
- QuietBetter than 80% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 77% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 71% of towns
Where Pelion ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 10% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 16% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 22% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 23% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 24% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Pelion
A household needs to earn about $34,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Pelion home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $63,762, 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 Pelion's effective rate of 0.50%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Pelion
Pelion runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Pelion.
Who works in Pelion, and how
Work in Pelion centers on manufacturing and construction. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 94%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 0%
Life in Pelion
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Pelion.
What the weather is like in Pelion, month by month
Pelion sees roughly 70 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 95 degrees. January highs sit near 61, with lows near 35. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 61° | 47° | 35° |
| April | 80° | 65° | 51° |
| July | 95° | 82° | 73° |
| October | 81° | 67° | 54° |
Flying in and out of Pelion
The nearest airport, Columbia Metro, is about 12 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charleston AFB/International, about 93 miles away.
The best schools in and around Pelion
Schools across Pelion average a D+, better than 16% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Pelion ElementaryD · 20% proficient
- Forts Pond ElementaryD− · 15% proficient
Top middle schools
- Pelion MiddleD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Pelion HighC− · 29% proficient
- Swansea HighD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Pelion school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Pelion 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 Pelion against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Pelion
Is Pelion a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Pelion ranks 31,521st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, a stable housing market, and quiet, and lowest on education levels and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Pelion expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $137,518. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $63,762 median income, cost of living beats 38% of towns.
Is Pelion safe?
Pelion is safer than 40% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $413 per resident a year.
Compare Pelion with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Pelion. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Pelion 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.
Pelion detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Pelion: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Pelion: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Pelion: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Pelion: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Pelion 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.