Best PlacesRock Bluff, SC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Rock Bluff, 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.
Rock Bluff ranks 50,096th 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 Rock Bluff
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.
Rock Bluff's strengths and weaknesses
Where Rock Bluff ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Cheap childcare$581 a month, better than 80% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 75% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 71% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 96 pleasant days a year, better than 66% of towns
Where Rock Bluff ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$32,515 median, better than only 3% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- School gradeD−, better than only 4% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Rock Bluff
A household needs to earn about $41,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rock Bluff home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $32,515, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Rock Bluff's effective rate of 0.52%, 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 Rock Bluff
Rock Bluff'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 Rock Bluff.
Who works in Rock Bluff, and how
Work in Rock Bluff centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Rock Bluff
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Rock Bluff.
What the weather is like in Rock Bluff, month by month
Rock Bluff sees roughly 96 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 57, with lows near 36. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 57° | 45° | 36° |
| April | 76° | 63° | 51° |
| July | 90° | 79° | 71° |
| October | 77° | 64° | 54° |
Flying in and out of Rock Bluff
The nearest airport, Florence Regional, is about 42 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charleston AFB/International, about 50 miles away.
The best schools in and around Rock Bluff
Schools across Rock Bluff average a D−, better than 4% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Hemingway ElementaryD− · 11% proficient
- Kenneth Gardner ElementaryF · 3% proficient
Top middle schools
- C. E. Murray MiddleD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Hemingway HighD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rock Bluff school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rock Bluff 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 Rock Bluff against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Rock Bluff
Is Rock Bluff a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rock Bluff ranks 50,096th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on tree cover, affordable childcare, and low property taxes, and lowest on crime and the cost of living against local pay. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Rock Bluff expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $162,789. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $32,515 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Rock Bluff safe?
Rock Bluff is safer than 1% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,189 per resident a year.
Compare Rock Bluff with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rock Bluff. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rock Bluff 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.
Rock Bluff detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rock Bluff: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rock Bluff: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rock Bluff: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rock Bluff: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rock Bluff 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.