The 10 Best Places To Buy A House In South Carolina For 2022


Using science and data, we can tell you which places in South Carolina have seen home prices rising and people flocking over the past year.

HomeSnacks is reader-supported. When you click through real estate links on our site, we earn an affiliate commission. Learn more.
Editor’s note: This is not investment advice and we are not financial advisers. Article updated for 2022.

There's a the age old question everyone thinks about when they decide to move to a city in South Carolina:

Should I buy a place or rent? Well, we aren't here today to solve that problem for you exactly. We are just assuming you'll do the right thing and a buy a place. And while we are happy to tell you the best place to live in South Carolina, this analysis is going to tackle the question of the best place to buy a house as an investor. That is we are going to try and determine the up and coming cities in the Palmetto State.

To do that we are going to look at places in South Carolina that are growing faster than average, but where home prices are below average. In every day terms, the "deals". The best deal in South Carolina at the moment? That would be Abbeville according to our analysis.

Here's a look at the top ten places to buy a home in South Carolina for 2022.

The 10 Best Places To Buy A Home In South Carolina For 2022

  1. Abbeville
  2. Hollywood
  3. Central
  4. Chester
  5. Walterboro
  6. Batesburg-Leesville
  7. Cheraw
  8. Darlington
  9. Dillon
  10. Clover

What's the best place to buy a home in South Carolina for 2022? According to our analysis, would the the ideal place to buy a home looking into the future.

The methodology that wen't into this can be a bit complicated, so we'll break it down for you in as much detail as we can below. If you're not worried about finding a deal on good places to live, check out the most expensive places to live in South Carolina and, for those of you on a budget, the cheapest places to live in South Carolina.

For more South Carolina reading, check out:

The 10 Best Cities To Buy A House In South Carolina For 2022

1. Abbeville

Abbeville, SC

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 5,014
Median Home Price: $95,600
Population Change: -0.6%
Home Price Change: 3.4%
More on Abbeville: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

2. Hollywood

Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 5,273
Median Home Price: $248,100
Population Change: 1.9%
Home Price Change: 0.6%
More on Hollywood: Homes For Sale | Data

3. Central

Central, SC

Source: Flickr User ~ wryonedwards ~ | CC BY-ND 2.0
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 5,342
Median Home Price: $112,500
Population Change: 1.4%
Home Price Change: 3.5%
More on Central: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

4. Chester

Chester, SC

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 5,392
Median Home Price: $67,700
Population Change: -0.3%
Home Price Change: 0.9%
More on Chester: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

5. Walterboro

Walterboro, SC

Source: Wikipedia User BeaufortTiger | CC BY-SA 4.0
Overall SnackAbility

3
/10

Population: 5,417
Median Home Price: $115,700
Population Change: -1.1%
Home Price Change: 7.5%
More on Walterboro: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

6. Batesburg-Leesville

Batesburg-Leesville, SC

Source: Wikipedia User Bill Fitzpatrick | CC BY-SA 3.0
Overall SnackAbility

3
/10

Population: 5,504
Median Home Price: $112,300
Population Change: -2.5%
Home Price Change: -0.9%
More on Batesburg-Leesville: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

7. Cheraw

Cheraw, SC

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

2
/10

Population: 5,596
Median Home Price: $111,900
Population Change: -1.1%
Home Price Change: 2.1%
More on Cheraw: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

8. Darlington

Darlington, SC

Source: Flickr User Roadgeek Adam | CC BY-SA 2.0
Overall SnackAbility

2
/10

Population: 6,000
Median Home Price: $123,000
Population Change: -0.7%
Home Price Change: 14.5%
More on Darlington: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

9. Dillon

Dillon, SC

Source: Wikipedia User Gerry Dincher | CC BY-SA 2.0
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 6,358
Median Home Price: $125,400
Population Change: -0.6%
Home Price Change: 5.8%
More on Dillon: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

10. Clover

Clover, SC

Source: Flickr User jonesy54 | CC BY 2.0
Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 6,370
Median Home Price: $176,100
Population Change: 3.8%
Home Price Change: 15.6%
More on Clover: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

Methodology: How do you determine the best places to buy a home in South Carolina for 2022?

We were in real estate for almost five years and have been working on this site for another three. Suffice is to say, we've put a lot of thought into what goes into finding a good place to buy a home.

So all that thinking has come to this moment where we get to spell out how we'd approach finding an up-and-coming place to live in South Carolina. Put differently, the analysis will try to find places in South Carolina with undervalued homes relative to pent up demand.

Best Counties To Live In South Carolina

To do that we looked at the most recent American Community Survey Census data for 2016-2020 and compared it to the previous vintage (2012-2016). Specifically, we used the following criteria:

  • Y-o-Y Change In Population (People want to live here)
  • Y-o-Y Change In Median Home Prices (People are willing to pay for it)
  • Home Prices Relative To The State Average (It's still kinda cheap)

We want places that are growing, have seen home prices increase in recent years, and are still "cheap" for South Carolina with the following caveats:

So of the 0 cities and towns in South Carolina, only 65 places made it through our initial filters to even be considered.

We then ranked each place from 1 to 65 for the criteria mentioned above with 1 being the best for that criteria. We averaged the rankings to create a "best place to buy" index with the place having the lowest index being the best. You can download the data here.

Turns out that Abbeville is the best potential gem in the not-so-rough in the Palmetto State.

Read on for more on these places.

Summary: The Best Places To Purchase A House In South Carolina for 2022

There's our analysis of the best places to buy a house in South Carolina. And, to be clear, we aren't necessarily saying these places are the best places to live, just that it looks like they might be in a couple of years based on the data.

In fact, every place in the following table meets our criteria, so even though it may not look super long, remember we started off with all 0 places in the state.

So if we'd could rent or buy in these cities, we'd definitely buy.

For more South Carolina reading, check out:

Home Prices By City In South Carolina

City Rank Median Home Price Population Change Home Price Increase
Abbeville 1 $95,600 -0.6% 3.4%
Hollywood 2 $248,100 1.9% 0.6%
Central 3 $112,500 1.4% 3.5%
Chester 4 $67,700 -0.3% 0.9%
Walterboro 5 $115,700 -1.1% 7.5%
Batesburg-Leesville 6 $112,300 -2.5% -0.9%
Cheraw 7 $111,900 -1.1% 2.1%
Darlington 8 $123,000 -0.7% 14.5%
Dillon 9 $125,400 -0.6% 5.8%
Clover 10 $176,100 3.8% 15.6%
Lake City 11 $84,800 -0.8% -5.5%
Marion 12 $108,500 2.0% 1.7%
Hardeeville 13 $359,600 11.9% 7.0%
Camden 14 $181,300 1.2% 13.5%
Hartsville 15 $134,800 -0.7% -8.3%
Union 16 $80,700 -0.7% 0.0%
Bennettsville 17 $88,200 -1.9% 10.8%
Travelers Rest 18 $210,500 54.3% 11.4%
York 19 $143,000 1.8% 3.0%
Clinton 20 $112,400 -1.1% 43.6%
Seneca 21 $161,800 0.7% 2.4%
Laurens 22 $95,200 -0.0% 1.6%
Georgetown 23 $160,900 0.2% -1.5%
Lancaster 24 $161,300 0.5% 13.9%
Fountain Inn 25 $159,200 8.9% 2.3%
Newberry 26 $100,700 -0.3% 5.7%
Forest Acres 27 $196,300 -1.1% 1.3%
Tega Cay 28 $358,000 4.1% 8.1%
Moncks Corner 29 $202,000 5.8% -0.6%
James Island 30 $341,000 0.7% 13.4%
Irmo 31 $145,100 1.5% 16.1%
Orangeburg 32 $107,700 -1.2% 2.0%
Gaffney 33 $104,900 1.2% -5.6%
Port Royal 34 $242,700 3.9% 4.0%
Beaufort 35 $229,600 0.1% 6.9%
Cayce 36 $128,300 2.7% -1.2%
North Myrtle Beach 37 $275,600 3.0% 3.5%
Clemson 38 $267,000 2.8% 12.9%
West Columbia 39 $156,200 0.8% 9.4%
Fort Mill 40 $305,400 12.6% 5.6%
Easley 41 $176,000 1.1% 10.1%
Lexington 42 $199,400 2.4% 4.7%
Bluffton 43 $299,700 11.4% 3.1%
Simpsonville 44 $188,000 4.3% 8.4%
Greenwood 45 $94,600 0.4% -2.9%
North Augusta 46 $170,000 2.0% 5.5%
Conway 47 $164,300 3.8% 6.0%
Hanahan 48 $249,000 5.7% 8.8%
Mauldin 49 $170,000 2.4% 3.8%
Anderson 50 $138,000 0.4% 0.9%
Aiken 51 $199,100 2.5% 5.6%
Greer 52 $184,200 4.5% 6.4%
Myrtle Beach 53 $237,200 2.9% 9.8%
Spartanburg 54 $133,200 0.1% 6.1%
Florence 55 $155,000 0.1% -2.3%
Sumter 56 $131,800 -0.1% -5.1%
Hilton Head Island 57 $488,000 -0.0% 0.9%
Goose Creek 58 $199,600 2.3% 6.0%
Summerville 59 $215,800 1.1% 3.8%
Greenville 60 $332,700 2.8% 13.8%
Rock Hill 61 $167,600 1.5% 7.6%
Mount Pleasant 62 $472,900 2.8% 2.6%
North Charleston 63 $184,600 2.1% 5.6%
Columbia 64 $186,000 0.6% 2.7%
Charleston 65 $349,000 1.3% 5.6%
Download The Entire South Carolina Ranking Data

How Is The Area In ?

About Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar has been in the real estate business for almost ten years now. He originally worked for Movoto Real Estate as the director of marketing before founding HomeSnacks.

He believes the key to finding the right place to live comes down to looking at the data, reading about things to do, and, most importantly, checking it out yourself before you move.

If you've been looking for a place to live in the past several years, you've probably stumbled upon his writing already.

You can find out more about him on LinkedIn or his website.

 Buy A House