Best PlacesSheldon, SC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sheldon, 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.
Sheldon ranks 45,169th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Disaster risk pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on an educated workforce.
The best neighborhoods in Sheldon
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.
Sheldon's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sheldon ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 87% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 78% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 72% of towns
- QuietBetter than 71% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 71% of towns
Where Sheldon ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 12% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 15% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Sheldon
A household needs to earn about $89,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sheldon home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $59,834, 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 Sheldon's effective rate of 0.49%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Sheldon
Sheldon 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 Sheldon.
Who works in Sheldon, and how
Work in Sheldon centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Sheldon
The coast is about 31 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Sheldon, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Sheldon, month by month
Sheldon sees roughly 97 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 94 degrees. January highs sit near 64, with lows near 39. The comfortable stretch runs February through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 64° | 51° | 39° |
| April | 81° | 68° | 55° |
| July | 94° | 83° | 75° |
| October | 83° | 70° | 60° |
Flying in and out of Sheldon
The nearest airport, Hilton Head, is about 24 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 Sheldon
Schools across Sheldon average a D+, better than 16% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Whale Branch ElementaryD− · 15% proficient
- Ridgeland ElementaryD− · 15% proficient
Top middle schools
- Whale Branch MiddleD− · 15% proficient
Top high schools
- Whale Branch Early College HighB · 50% proficient
- Ridgeland Secondary Academy Of ExcellenceD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sheldon school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sheldon 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 Sheldon against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Sheldon
Is Sheldon a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sheldon ranks 45,169th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on an educated workforce, low property taxes, and a strong job market, and lowest on disaster risk and summer heat. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Sheldon expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $356,339. The overall cost of living runs about 3% below the national average. Set against a $59,834 median income, cost of living beats 21% of towns.
Is Sheldon safe?
Sheldon is safer than 15% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $629 per resident a year.
Compare Sheldon with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sheldon. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sheldon 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.
Sheldon detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sheldon: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sheldon: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sheldon: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sheldon: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sheldon 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.