Best PlacesSouth Charleston, OH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around South Charleston, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
South Charleston ranks 8,869th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in South Charleston
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.
South Charleston's strengths and weaknesses
Where South Charleston ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 97% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 95% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 91% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 88% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 86% of towns
Where South Charleston ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 18% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 18% of towns
- Cheap childcare$964 a month, better than only 27% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 28% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 32% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in South Charleston
A household needs to earn about $54,000 a year to comfortably buy the median South Charleston home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $72,536, 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 South Charleston's effective rate of 0.92%, 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 South Charleston
South Charleston 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 South Charleston.
Who works in South Charleston, and how
Work in South Charleston centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in South Charleston
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across South Charleston.
What the weather is like in South Charleston, month by month
South Charleston sees roughly 77 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 39, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 39° | 29° | 21° |
| April | 66° | 52° | 40° |
| July | 85° | 74° | 63° |
| October | 69° | 56° | 44° |
Flying in and out of South Charleston
The nearest airport, James M Cox Dayton International, is about 30 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is John Glenn Columbus International, about 42 miles away.
The best schools in and around South Charleston
Schools across South Charleston average an A−, better than 86% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Cedarville Elementary SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
- Greeneview Elementary SchoolA · 69% proficient
- Miami View Elementary SchoolA− · 61% proficient
Top middle schools
- Southeastern Jr. High SchoolA · 63% proficient
- Madison-plains Intermediate SchoolA · 62% proficient
- Greeneview Middle SchoolA · 59% proficient
Top high schools
- Madison-plains High SchoolA− · 63% proficient
- Southeastern Sr. High SchoolA− · 63% proficient
- Shawnee Middle School/high SchoolA− · 60% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every South Charleston school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
South Charleston 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 South Charleston against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in South Charleston
Is South Charleston a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, South Charleston ranks 8,869th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, cell coverage, and walkability, and lowest on tree cover and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is South Charleston expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $203,296. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $72,536 median income, cost of living beats 59% of towns.
Is South Charleston safe?
Yes, South Charleston is safer than 58% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $252 per resident a year.
Compare South Charleston with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to South Charleston. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in South Charleston 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.
South Charleston detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for South Charleston: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in South Charleston: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of South Charleston: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in South Charleston: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
South Charleston 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.