Best PlacesSelma, SC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Selma, 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.
Selma ranks 48,527th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Education levels pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on affordable childcare.
The best neighborhoods in Selma
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.
Selma's strengths and weaknesses
Where Selma ranks high
- Cheap childcare$552 a month, better than 87% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 82% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 78% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 71% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 69% of towns
Where Selma ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 1% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 4% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 6% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Selma
A household needs to earn about $59,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Selma home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $46,657, 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 Selma's effective rate of 0.50%, 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 Selma
Selma's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Selma.
Who works in Selma, and how
Work in Selma centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, 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 Selma
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Selma.
What the weather is like in Selma, month by month
Selma sees roughly 89 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 Selma
The nearest airport, Florence Regional, is about 26 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 102 miles away.
The best schools in and around Selma
Schools across Selma average a D+, better than 13% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Latta ElementaryB · 50% proficient
- Maryville ElementaryF · 6% proficient
Top middle schools
- Latta MiddleB+ · 50% proficient
- Dillon MiddleD · 23% proficient
- Georgetown MiddleD · 21% proficient
Top high schools
- Georgetown HighB · 47% proficient
- Latta HighB− · 45% proficient
- Dillon HighC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Selma school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Selma 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 Selma against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Selma
Is Selma a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Selma ranks 48,527th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, a stable housing market, and low property taxes, and lowest on education levels and thin health care access. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Selma expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $236,701. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $46,657 median income, cost of living beats 17% of towns.
Is Selma safe?
Selma is safer than 6% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $804 per resident a year.
Compare Selma with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Selma. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Selma 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.
Selma detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Selma: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Selma: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Selma: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Selma: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Selma 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.