Best PlacesPontiac, SC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Pontiac, 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.
Pontiac ranks 11,279th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on what local pay buys by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Pontiac
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.
Pontiac's strengths and weaknesses
Where Pontiac ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 92% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 91% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 91% of towns
- Household income$101,940 median, better than 86% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 82% of towns
Where Pontiac ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 5% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 61 pleasant days a year, better than only 9% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 16% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 29% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 31% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Pontiac
A household needs to earn about $78,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Pontiac home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $101,940, 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 Pontiac's effective rate of 0.66%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Pontiac
Pontiac's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Pontiac.
Who works in Pontiac, and how
Work in Pontiac centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Pontiac
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Pontiac.
What the weather is like in Pontiac, month by month
Pontiac sees roughly 61 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 60, with lows near 34. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 60° | 46° | 34° |
| April | 79° | 64° | 49° |
| July | 93° | 81° | 71° |
| October | 80° | 65° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Pontiac
The nearest airport, Columbia Metro, is about 22 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 76 miles away.
The best schools in and around Pontiac
Schools across Pontiac average a B−, better than 60% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Doby's Mill ElementaryB− · 40% proficient
- E. L. Wright MiddleB− · 40% proficient
- Blaney ElementaryC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Leslie M. Stover MiddleC · 35% proficient
- Southeast MiddleD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Lugoff-elgin HighA− · 65% proficient
- Spring Valley HighA− · 59% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Pontiac school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Pontiac 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 Pontiac against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Pontiac
Is Pontiac a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Pontiac ranks 11,279th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on what local pay buys, fast internet, and population health, and lowest on noise and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Pontiac expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $306,001. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $101,940 median income, cost of living beats 92% of towns.
Is Pontiac safe?
Pontiac is safer than 54% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $364 per resident a year.
Compare Pontiac with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Pontiac. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Pontiac 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.
Pontiac detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Pontiac: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Pontiac: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Pontiac: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Pontiac: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Pontiac 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.