Best PlacesRiverside, SC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Riverside, 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.
Riverside ranks 21,648th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores best on fast internet, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Riverside
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.
Riverside's strengths and weaknesses
Where Riverside ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 88% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 83% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 82% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 78% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 71% of towns
Where Riverside ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 22% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 28% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 29% of towns
- Cheap childcare$954 a month, better than only 29% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 30% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Riverside
A household needs to earn about $75,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Riverside home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $72,168; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Riverside's effective rate of 0.49%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Riverside
Riverside runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Riverside.
Who works in Riverside, and how
Work in Riverside centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Riverside
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Riverside.
What the weather is like in Riverside, month by month
Riverside sees roughly 88 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 54, 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 | 54° | 43° | 34° |
| April | 74° | 62° | 51° |
| July | 91° | 80° | 71° |
| October | 76° | 63° | 53° |
Flying in and out of Riverside
Charlotte/Douglas International sits about 30 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 25.9 million passengers in 2025, with 213 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Riverside
Schools across Riverside average a C, better than 36% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Van Wyck ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
- North ElementaryC · 35% proficient
- Erwin ElementaryF · 6% proficient
Top middle schools
- Indian Land MiddleB+ · 52% proficient
- Castle Heights MiddleB− · 40% proficient
- South MiddleD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Indian Land HighA− · 63% proficient
- Lancaster HighC · 31% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Riverside school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Riverside 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 Riverside against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Riverside
Is Riverside a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Riverside ranks 21,648th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, tree cover, and few empty homes, and lowest on an overheated housing market and health outcomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Riverside expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $298,455. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $72,168 median income, cost of living beats 60% of towns.
Is Riverside safe?
Riverside is safer than 54% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $355 per resident a year.
Compare Riverside with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Riverside. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Riverside 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.
Riverside detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Riverside: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Riverside: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Riverside: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Riverside: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Riverside 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.