Best PlacesRiverdale, SC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Riverdale, 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.
Riverdale ranks 44,712th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Disaster risk pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on a stable housing market.
The best neighborhoods in Riverdale
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.
Riverdale's strengths and weaknesses
Where Riverdale ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 87% of towns
- Cheap childcare$552 a month, better than 87% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 84% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 83% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 71% of towns
Where Riverdale ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 7% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 8% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 11% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Riverdale
A household needs to earn about $23,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Riverdale home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $56,611, 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 Riverdale's effective rate of 0.44%, 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 3 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Riverdale
Riverdale runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Riverdale.
Who works in Riverdale, and how
Work in Riverdale centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Riverdale
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Riverdale.
What the weather is like in Riverdale, month by month
Riverdale 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 Riverdale
The nearest airport, Florence Regional, is about 26 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 108 miles away.
The best schools in and around Riverdale
Schools across Riverdale average a C−, better than 23% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Latta ElementaryB · 50% proficient
- Gordon ElementaryD+ · 23% proficient
Top middle schools
- Latta MiddleB+ · 50% proficient
- Dillon MiddleD · 23% proficient
Top high schools
- Latta HighB− · 45% proficient
- Dillon HighC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Riverdale school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Riverdale 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 Riverdale against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Riverdale
Is Riverdale a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Riverdale ranks 44,712th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, affordable childcare, and low property taxes, and lowest on disaster risk and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Riverdale expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $91,670. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $56,611 median income, cost of living beats 24% of towns.
Is Riverdale safe?
Riverdale is safer than 7% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $791 per resident a year.
Compare Riverdale with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Riverdale. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Riverdale 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.
Riverdale detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Riverdale: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Riverdale: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Riverdale: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Riverdale: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Riverdale 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.