Best PlacesRuffin, SC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ruffin, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Ruffin ranks 49,414th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. A weak job market pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on affordable childcare.
The best neighborhoods in Ruffin
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.
Ruffin's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ruffin ranks high
- Cheap childcare$581 a month, better than 80% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 78% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 78% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 73% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 104 pleasant days a year, better than 71% of towns
Where Ruffin ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 6% of towns
- School gradeD, better than only 7% of towns
- Household income$46,580 median, better than only 9% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ruffin
A household needs to earn about $46,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ruffin home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $46,580, 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 Ruffin's effective rate of 0.53%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Ruffin
Ruffin 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 Ruffin.
Who works in Ruffin, and how
Work in Ruffin centers on manufacturing and admin & support services. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Ruffin
The coast is about 62 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Ruffin, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Ruffin, month by month
Ruffin sees roughly 104 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 60, with lows near 39. The comfortable stretch runs March through May and September through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 60° | 48° | 39° |
| April | 77° | 64° | 53° |
| July | 91° | 80° | 72° |
| October | 78° | 66° | 57° |
Flying in and out of Ruffin
Charleston AFB/International sits about 45 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 3.2 million passengers in 2025, with 95 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Ruffin
Schools across Ruffin average a D, better than 7% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Forest Hills ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
- Bells ElementaryD− · 11% proficient
- Hendersonville ElementaryD− · 11% proficient
Top middle schools
- Colleton County MiddleD · 19% proficient
Top high schools
- Colleton County HighD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ruffin school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ruffin 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 Ruffin against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Ruffin
Is Ruffin a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ruffin ranks 49,414th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, few empty homes, and tree cover, and lowest on a weak job market and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ruffin expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $181,784. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $46,580 median income, cost of living beats 6% of towns.
Is Ruffin safe?
Ruffin is safer than 10% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $696 per resident a year.
Compare Ruffin with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ruffin. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ruffin 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.
Ruffin detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ruffin: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ruffin: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ruffin: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ruffin: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ruffin 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.