Best PlacesTega Cay, SC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Tega Cay, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Tega Cay ranks 313th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on what local pay buys by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Tega Cay
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.
Tega Cay's strengths and weaknesses
Where Tega Cay ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 99% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of towns
- School gradeA+, better than 98% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 98% of towns
- Household income$141,242 median, better than 96% of towns
Where Tega Cay ranks low
- Short commute30.9 minutes each way, better than only 29% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 29% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 72 pleasant days a year, better than only 30% of towns
- Cheap childcare$908 a month, better than only 36% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 36% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Tega Cay
A household needs to earn about $141,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Tega Cay home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $141,242, 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 Tega Cay's effective rate of 0.63%, 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 Tega Cay
Tega Cay runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Tega Cay.
Who works in Tega Cay, and how
Work in Tega Cay centers on health care & social and finance & insurance. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 69%
- Work from home 29%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Tega Cay
Tega Cay has more parkland per resident than 96% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Tega Cay and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Tega Cay, month by month
Tega Cay sees roughly 72 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 56, with lows near 30. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 56° | 42° | 30° |
| April | 76° | 62° | 47° |
| July | 92° | 80° | 69° |
| October | 78° | 63° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Tega Cay
Charlotte/Douglas International sits about 13 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 25.9 million passengers in 2025, with 213 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Tega Cay
Schools across Tega Cay average an A+, better than 98% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Tega Cay ElementaryA+ · 75% proficient
- Gold Hill ElementaryA+ · 75% proficient
- Orchard Park ElementaryA · 65% proficient
Top middle schools
- Gold Hill MiddleA+ · 73% proficient
- Banks Trail MiddleA+ · 69% proficient
Top high schools
- Fort Mill HighA+ · 88% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Tega Cay school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Tega Cay 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 Tega Cay against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Tega Cay
Is Tega Cay a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Tega Cay ranks 313th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on what local pay buys, population health, and good schools, and lowest on long commutes and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Tega Cay expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $550,599. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $141,242 median income, cost of living beats 99% of towns.
Is Tega Cay safe?
Tega Cay is safer than 50% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $375 per resident a year.
Compare Tega Cay with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Tega Cay. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Tega Cay 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.
Tega Cay detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Tega Cay: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Tega Cay: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Tega Cay: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Tega Cay: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Tega Cay 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.