Best PlacesSato, SC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sato, 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.
Sato ranks 49,867th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and crime is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Sato
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.
Sato's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sato ranks high
- Cheap childcare$519 a month, better than 90% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 126 pleasant days a year, better than 83% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 71% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 65% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 63% of towns
Where Sato ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Household income$40,621 median, better than only 3% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 4% of towns
- School gradeD−, better than only 5% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 7% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Sato
A household needs to earn about $32,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sato home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $40,621, 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 Sato's effective rate of 0.73%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Sato
Sato runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Sato.
Who works in Sato, and how
Work in Sato centers on manufacturing and education. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 14%
Life in Sato
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Sato.
What the weather is like in Sato, month by month
Sato sees roughly 126 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 58, with lows near 37. The comfortable stretch runs March through May and September through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 58° | 47° | 37° |
| April | 77° | 64° | 53° |
| July | 91° | 80° | 72° |
| October | 78° | 66° | 56° |
Flying in and out of Sato
The nearest airport, Columbia Metro, is about 44 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charleston AFB/International, about 70 miles away.
Sato 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 Sato against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Sato
Is Sato a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sato ranks 49,867th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, the weather, and state infrastructure, and lowest on crime and low incomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Sato expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $124,823. The overall cost of living runs about 24% below the national average. Set against a $40,621 median income, cost of living beats 7% of towns.
Is Sato safe?
Sato is safer than 0% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,628 per resident a year.
Compare Sato with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sato. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sato 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.
Sato detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sato: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sato: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sato: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sato: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sato 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.