The 10 Cheapest Places To Live In South Carolina For 2022

The 10 Cheapest Places To Live In South Carolina For 2022

We can’t believe that Batesburg-Leesburg made The Palmetto State’s cheapest places to live list as the most affordable city. This city has five star dining and posh shopping, and still, it’s the third most affordable place to buy a home based on median income data.

So, if you want to know where to steal the best deal in South Carolina, The Twin Cities are like a ripe Peaches N Such peach just waiting to be picked.

Have you heard? Laurens is South Carolina’s second most affordable city and the “Gateway to the Upstate” shows no signs of slowing down.

Laurens moved up four places from last year due to its fourth best place to buy a home based on the city’s median income ranking. The amenities in Laurens are also not too shabby. Yes, if you haven’t spent the day exploring the Laurens Historic District or taken in their Riverfront Freedom Festival then you have some work to do.

It’s not very often that you find a deal as sweet as South Carolina’s third most affordable city, Fountain Inn. Located slightly southeast of Greenville, “The Diamond Tip of the Golden Strip” is the eighth most affordable place in South Carolina to buy or rent a home.

Not to mention, with Anderson and Spartanburg also in Fountain Inn’s backyard, it’s a great place to live if you want quiet, small town living with affordable shopping and entertainment close by.

Moving up the ranks to solidify South Carolina’s fourth least expensive city, “The Gateway to Tree City USA,” Irmo, must be made of money trees because this city has made life super affordable.

Located on the banks of Lake Murray, Irma, shows us that you can have the best of everything: a great lake life on a budget and affordable housing as this city is the best place to buy a home based on income. The catch? You’re going to have to make at least $75,344/year.

Coming in as the fifth most affordable place to call home is Lake City, a city of 6,562 about a half-hour south of Florence.

Sure, Lake City has a low cost of living, with things like healthcare, transportation, and services all costing less than your typical American city. But what really stands out in Lake City is the thriving community.

From the public art and horticulture that beautifies every corner of Lake City, to the seemingly endless string of events, to the spectacular dining and shopping downtown, there’s something for everyone in Lake City.

If you just want to give it a try to see how you like it, the median rent here is $759 — about 20% cheaper than the statewide average. If you like Lake City enough to make it your forever home, the median home price is $84,800.

Located on the north bank of the Savannah River, North Augusta is not only the sixth most affordable city in South Carolina, it is the epitome of southern hospitality with a pinch of southern charm. The best part of this deal, you won’t have to win the South Carolina lottery to get your hands on home in North Augusta because “The Riverfront” is the 12th best place to buy a home based on the city’s median income.

Coming in as the seventh least expensive place to live in South Carolina for 2022 is Dillon, a city of 6,358 situated 40 miles northeast of Florence. Besides being affordable, Dillon has stuff to keep you entertained on a budget if you like the outdoors.

For instance, Little Pee Dee State Park is right in your neighborhood, with some of the best camping, hiking, fishing in the area.

Dillon’s overall cost of living score is 88, compared to South Carolina’s 94 and the national average of 100. In terms of housing, though, Dillon is much cheaper than those numbers suggest. The median home price in Dillon is $125,400.

If you just want to give Dillon a try to see how you like it, you’re in luck because the city has the seventh lowest median rent in South Carolina at $606.

Chester is a small rural city in Chester County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 5,607 at the 2010 census, down from 6,476 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Chester County.

No, not everything is free in the 843, but it is super affordable-like, the ninth cheapest place to live in South Carolina affordable. But, that’s not all that makes this city of 7,905 residents from Marlboro County so great. Bennettsville shines because the median income here is $29,556 and the median home price is only $88,200.

And, folks, it doesn’t hurt that this South Carolina gem is also located on the Great Peed Dee River.

This “Character Protected, Community Perfected” city has made buying a home affordable, education and safety a priority, and its 23,200 residents employed.

Kemet, Milliken, and Pare-Chem are three companies in Simpsonville that are helping to keep the economy in South Carolina’s tenth most affordable place to live moving; and take from us, it’s paying off. We think that buying your forever home in Simpsonville is a smart choice.

Cheapest Places To Live In South Carolina FAQs

What county in South Carolina has the lowest cost of living?

The county in South Carolina with the lowest cost of living is Abbeville County. The average living wage in Abbeville County is $78,818 according to MIT data. Abbeville County has the lowest cost of living because it has relatively less expensive childcare and housing costs compared to South Carolina as a whole. Childcare costs $9,273 a year in Abbeville County for two children compared to the South Carolina average of $10,594. Housing costs, defined as a blend of the average rent and average mortgage payment, are $8,148 per year in Abbeville County compared to $11,223 on average in South Carolina.

What is the cost of living in South Carolina?

The cost of living in South Carolina is 6.6% lower than the US average. According to MIT, the required living wage for a family of four with two working parents in South Carolina is $83,827 vs the national average for a family of four with two working parents of $89,744. The median income of a South Carolina household is $54,864.

What is the cheapest housing market in South Carolina?

The cheapest housing market in South Carolina is Chester. The average home value in Chester is $67,700, the lowest in the state. The average home value in South Carolina is $170,100, almost 2.5 times higher than Chester.

Methodology: How We Determined The Most Affordable Places To Live In The Palmetto State For 2022

The two most important things to think about when it comes to being able to afford if you can live comes down to:

1. How much do money do I make?
2. How much do I have spend to live there?

You need to understand your costs in the context of how much money you make.

For example, if the median household earns $100,000 and spends $40,000 on housing it’s actually cheaper to live there than a place with a median income of $50,000 and housing costs of $21,000. You might spend more on housing, but you have more money overall to play with.

With that example in mind, we derived several statistics from the latest Census American Community Survey 2016-2020 around incomes and costs. They are:

• Median Home Price / Median Income (lower is better)
• Median Income / Median Rent (Higher is better)
• Median Home Price

We added simply median home price because high home prices generally correlate with higher expenses for all costs related to homes (heating, electricity, etc).

You can then compare these metrics in each of the places in South Carolina to figure out which is the least expensive.

What you are left with is a “Cost of Living Index” by taking the average rank of each of these metrics for each city.

So we used that cost of living index in order to rank all of the 64 places in South Carolina that have more than 5,000 people.

The place with the lowest cost of living in South Carolina according to the data is Batesburg-Leesville. You can download the data here.