Best PlacesSouthern Shops, SC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Southern Shops, 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.
Southern Shops ranks 47,654th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Southern Shops
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.
Southern Shops' strengths and weaknesses
Where Southern Shops ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 99% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 95% of towns
- BikingBetter than 84% of towns
- Short commute22.6 minutes each way, better than 77% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 76% of towns
Where Southern Shops ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 1% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 1% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 1% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Southern Shops
A household needs to earn about $28,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Southern Shops home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $40,444, 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 Southern Shops' effective rate of 0.91%, 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 3 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Southern Shops
Southern Shops runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Southern Shops.
Who works in Southern Shops, and how
Work in Southern Shops centers on hospitality & food and admin & support services. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 96%
- Work from home 2%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Southern Shops
Southern Shops has more restaurants and bars per resident than 87% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Southern Shops and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Southern Shops, month by month
Southern Shops sees roughly 86 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 52, with lows near 34. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 52° | 42° | 34° |
| April | 73° | 61° | 50° |
| July | 90° | 79° | 70° |
| October | 74° | 62° | 53° |
Flying in and out of Southern Shops
The nearest airport, Greenville Spartanburg International, is about 15 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 61 miles away.
The best schools in and around Southern Shops
Schools across Southern Shops average a B−, better than 61% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- James H. Hendrix ElementaryB · 50% proficient
- Lone Oak ElementaryD− · 11% proficient
- Arcadia ElementaryF · 10% proficient
Top middle schools
- Boiling Springs MiddleB · 45% proficient
- Fairforest MiddleC− · 29% proficient
Top high schools
- Boiling Springs HighA · 71% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Southern Shops school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Southern Shops 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 Southern Shops against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Southern Shops
Is Southern Shops a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Southern Shops ranks 47,654th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cell coverage, walkability, and biking, and lowest on civic engagement and education levels. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Southern Shops expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $105,354. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $40,444 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Southern Shops safe?
Southern Shops is safer than 6% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $828 per resident a year.
Compare Southern Shops with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Southern Shops. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Southern Shops 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.
Southern Shops detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Southern Shops: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Southern Shops: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Southern Shops: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Southern Shops: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Southern Shops 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.