Best PlacesWilliamsburg County, SC Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood in Williamsburg County, 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.

See the map of best neighborhoods

Williamsburg County ranks 3,119th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Crime pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on quiet.

#3,119
of 3,144 counties
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 3,144 counties
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in Williamsburg County

Map of the best neighborhoods in the Williamsburg County area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

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.

Williamsburg County's strengths and weaknesses

Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare Williamsburg County with other counties.

Where Williamsburg County ranks high

  • QuietBetter than 80% of counties
  • Cheap childcare$581 a month, better than 74% of counties
  • TransitBetter than 72% of counties
  • Tree shadeBetter than 72% of counties
  • Low property taxBetter than 64% of counties

Where Williamsburg County ranks low

  • Crime safetyBetter than only 1% of counties
  • Local economyBetter than only 2% of counties
  • Disaster safetyBetter than only 3% of counties
  • School gradeD−, better than only 4% of counties
  • Household income$45,374 median, better than only 4% of counties

What it costs to buy a home in Williamsburg County

A household needs to earn about $32,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Williamsburg County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $45,374, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.

Income to buy the median home
$32,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$752
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $126,350 home
Median rent
$792
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$644
Property tax$66
Homeowners insurance$42

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 Williamsburg County's effective rate of 0.62%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in Williamsburg County

Williamsburg County runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.

Median age
45
older than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
24%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.3
below the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1818%
18 to 3420%
35 to 4919%
50 to 6419%
65 and older24%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Williamsburg County.


Who works in Williamsburg County, and how

Work in Williamsburg County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.

Work from home
8%
below the national average
Unemployment
8.2%
above the national average
Job growth
−1.8%
/y 2019-2023, slower than the national pace

Largest industries

Manufacturing15%
Health care & social15%
Education9%
Construction9%
Retail trade9%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 89%
  • Work from home 8%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 3%

Life in Williamsburg County

Williamsburg County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and less parkland per resident than most counties. The coast is about 68 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Williamsburg County and thins out in others, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
101
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 32.6 per 10,000 residents, more than 17% of counties
Parkland
74 acres
about 2.4 acres per 1,000 residents, more than 28% of counties
To the coast
68 min
drive to the nearest ocean beaches

Is Williamsburg County growing, and who is moving in?

Williamsburg County has lost about 9% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Florence, SC.

Population growth
-9%
over the decade, vs about 6% nationally
Population
29,865
down from 32,733
Population by year. Source: U.S. Census Population Estimates Program.

Where new residents come from

Florence, SC172 / yr
Augusta, GA106 / yr
Spartanburg, SC93 / yr
Greenville, SC81 / yr
Columbus, OH58 / yr

Where people leaving Williamsburg County go

Columbia, SC309 / yr
Florence, SC244 / yr
Myrtle Beach, SC111 / yr
Greenville, SC103 / yr
Georgetown County, SC102 / yr

Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.


What the weather is like in Williamsburg County, month by month

Williamsburg County sees roughly 91 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 57, with lows near 36. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January57°45°36°
April76°63°51°
July90°79°71°
October77°64°54°

Flying in and out of Williamsburg County

The nearest airport, Florence Regional, is about 37 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charleston AFB/International, about 55 miles away.

Nearest airport
FLO
Florence Regional, about 37 miles
Airport size
Nonhub
327th-busiest in the US, 4 nonstop destinations
Average drive
53 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around Williamsburg County

Schools across Williamsburg County average a D−, better than 4% of counties.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Williamsburg County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


Williamsburg County 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 Williamsburg County against the other 3,143 counties.


Who Williamsburg County suits

Families

Schools land around the 4th percentile.

See the families priority ↑

Remote workers

8% already work from home.

See the remote-work priority ↑

Retirees

It is quieter than 80%.

See the retirees priority ↑


Common questions about living in Williamsburg County

Is Williamsburg County a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Williamsburg County ranks 3,119th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on quiet, affordable childcare, and transit, and lowest on crime and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is Williamsburg County expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $126,350. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $45,374 median income, cost of living beats 4% of counties.

Is Williamsburg County safe?

Williamsburg County is safer than 1% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,203 per resident a year.

What is the weather like in Williamsburg County?

July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 57 with lows near 36. That works out to about 91 pleasant days a year, more than 53% of counties.

Is Williamsburg County good for families?

Schools beat 4% of counties, crime safety beats 1%, and childcare runs $581 a month.


Compare Williamsburg County with other counties


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Williamsburg County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Williamsburg County 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.

Williamsburg County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for Williamsburg County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in Williamsburg County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of Williamsburg County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in Williamsburg County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

Williamsburg County detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. 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.
  2. U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
  3. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  4. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  5. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  6. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  7. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  8. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  9. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  10. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  11. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  12. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  13. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.