Best PlacesSt. Helena Island, SC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around St. Helena Island, 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.
St. Helena Island ranks 35,785th 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 St. Helena Island
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.
St. Helena Island's strengths and weaknesses
Where St. Helena Island ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 85% of towns
- QuietBetter than 84% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 125 pleasant days a year, better than 83% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 80% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 71% of towns
Where St. Helena Island ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 23% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in St. Helena Island
A household needs to earn about $78,000 a year to comfortably buy the median St. Helena Island home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $76,737; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 St. Helena Island's effective rate of 0.47%, 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 St. Helena Island
St. Helena Island 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 St. Helena Island.
Who works in St. Helena Island, and how
Work in St. Helena Island centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in St. Helena Island
St. Helena Island has more restaurants and bars per resident than 76% of towns. The coast is about 12 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of St. Helena Island and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in St. Helena Island, month by month
St. Helena Island sees roughly 125 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 60, with lows near 43. The comfortable stretch runs February through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 60° | 50° | 43° |
| April | 76° | 66° | 59° |
| July | 90° | 82° | 76° |
| October | 78° | 69° | 63° |
Flying in and out of St. Helena Island
The nearest airport, Hilton Head, is about 14 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charleston AFB/International, about 46 miles away.
The best schools in and around St. Helena Island
Schools across St. Helena Island average a C, better than 43% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- St. Helena ElementaryD− · 11% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lady's Island MiddleC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Beaufort HighA− · 61% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every St. Helena Island school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
St. Helena Island 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 St. Helena Island against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in St. Helena Island
Is St. Helena Island a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, St. Helena Island ranks 35,785th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on an educated workforce, quiet, and the weather, 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 St. Helena Island expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $311,693. The overall cost of living runs about 1% above the national average. Set against a $76,737 median income, cost of living beats 43% of towns.
Is St. Helena Island safe?
St. Helena Island is safer than 23% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $524 per resident a year.
Compare St. Helena Island with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to St. Helena Island. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in St. Helena Island 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.
St. Helena Island detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for St. Helena Island: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in St. Helena Island: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of St. Helena Island: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in St. Helena Island: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
St. Helena Island 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.