Best PlacesRion, SC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Rion, 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.
Rion ranks 35,599th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and crime is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Rion
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.
Rion's strengths and weaknesses
Where Rion ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 92% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 88% of towns
- QuietBetter than 81% of towns
- Cheap childcare$581 a month, better than 80% of towns
Where Rion ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 17% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 23% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 27% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Rion
A household needs to earn about $26,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rion home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $68,032, 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 Rion's effective rate of 0.48%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Rion
Rion runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Rion.
Who works in Rion, and how
Work in Rion centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Rion
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Rion.
What the weather is like in Rion, month by month
Rion 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 Rion
The nearest airport, Columbia Metro, is about 24 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 65 miles away.
The best schools in and around Rion
Schools across Rion average a D+, better than 17% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Kelly Miller ElementaryD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Fairfield Central HighC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rion school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rion 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 Rion against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Rion
Is Rion a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rion ranks 35,599th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on tree cover, fast internet, and a stable housing market, and lowest on crime and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Rion expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $103,542. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $68,032 median income, cost of living beats 47% of towns.
Is Rion safe?
Rion is safer than 3% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,043 per resident a year.
Compare Rion with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rion. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rion 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.
Rion detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rion: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rion: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rion: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rion: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rion 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.