Best PlacesShelton, SC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Shelton, 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.
Shelton ranks 45,737th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Crime pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on a stable housing market.
The best neighborhoods in Shelton
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.
Shelton's strengths and weaknesses
Where Shelton ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 89% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 88% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 83% of towns
- Cheap childcare$581 a month, better than 80% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 71% of towns
Where Shelton ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 5% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 9% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 12% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Shelton
A household needs to earn about $31,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Shelton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $62,727, 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 Shelton's effective rate of 0.40%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Shelton
Shelton runs older than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Shelton.
Who works in Shelton, and how
Work in Shelton centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 98%
- Work from home 0%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Shelton
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Shelton.
What the weather is like in Shelton, month by month
Shelton sees roughly 92 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 55, 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 | 55° | 45° | 37° |
| April | 75° | 63° | 52° |
| July | 91° | 79° | 70° |
| October | 76° | 64° | 55° |
Flying in and out of Shelton
The nearest airport, Columbia Metro, is about 42 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 53 miles away.
The best schools in and around Shelton
Schools across Shelton average a D+, better than 15% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Monarch ElementaryC− · 30% proficient
- Mccrorey-liston School Of TechnologyD+ · 21% proficient
Top middle schools
- Sims MiddleC− · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- Union County HighB− · 45% proficient
- Fairfield Central HighC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Shelton school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Shelton 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 Shelton against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Shelton
Is Shelton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Shelton ranks 45,737th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, low property taxes, and tree cover, and lowest on crime and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Shelton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $124,000. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $62,727 median income, cost of living beats 15% of towns.
Is Shelton safe?
Shelton is safer than 2% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,048 per resident a year.
Compare Shelton with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Shelton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Shelton 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.
Shelton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Shelton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Shelton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Shelton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Shelton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Shelton 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.