Best PlacesRains, SC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Rains, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Rains ranks 48,978th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and the cost of living against local pay is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Rains
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.
Rains' strengths and weaknesses
Where Rains ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 90% of towns
- Cheap childcare$519 a month, better than 90% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 80% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 79% of towns
- Short commute23.6 minutes each way, better than 71% of towns
Where Rains ranks low
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$36,367 median, better than only 3% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 5% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Rains
A household needs to earn about $21,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rains home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $36,367, 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 Rains' effective rate of 0.37%, 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 Rains
Rains runs younger than the country, though it still carries a larger-than-average share of residents over 65.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Rains.
Who works in Rains, and how
Work in Rains centers on manufacturing and transportation & warehousing. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 95%
- Work from home 1%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Rains
The coast is about 47 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Rains, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Rains, month by month
Rains sees roughly 90 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 56, 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 | 56° | 45° | 37° |
| April | 75° | 63° | 52° |
| July | 90° | 79° | 71° |
| October | 76° | 64° | 55° |
Flying in and out of Rains
The nearest airport, Florence Regional, is about 23 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 Rains
Schools across Rains average a D, better than 6% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Marion IntermediateD · 20% proficient
- Mccormick ElementaryF · 6% proficient
Top middle schools
- Palmetto MiddleD− · 15% proficient
- Johnakin MiddleF · 3% proficient
Top high schools
- Mullins HighC+ · 40% proficient
- Marion HighC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rains school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rains 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 Rains against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Rains
Is Rains a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rains ranks 48,978th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low property taxes, affordable childcare, and a stable housing market, and lowest on the cost of living against local pay and low incomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Rains expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $83,474. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $36,367 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Rains safe?
Rains is safer than 6% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $813 per resident a year.
Compare Rains with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rains. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rains 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.
Rains detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rains: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rains: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rains: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rains: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rains 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.