Before you decide to relocate to South Carolina, it’s important to research the exact cost of living around the state. And that’s what we’re going to help you do.
These are the places in South Carolina that cost a pretty penny — the most expensive cities in the state.
We used Saturday Night Science to compare the 2020-2024 American Community Survey on cost of living for the 64 places in South Carolina with more than 5,000 people.
After we saved up for months and could finally afford it, we landed on this list of the ten most expensive cities in South Carolina for 2026.
$124,755 median income · $875,092 median home · #1 home prices in South Carolina
Located in
Charleston County, South Carolina
Mount Pleasant is a large suburban town in Charleston County, South Carolina, United States. It is the fourth largest municipality and largest town in South Carolina, and for several years was one of the state’s fastest-growing areas, doubling in population between 1990 and 2000. The population was 67,843 at the 2010 census, and the estimated population in 2014 was 77,796. Mount Pleasant is the third largest city in the Charleston- North Charleston- Summerville metropolitan area, behind Charleston and North Charleston.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$94,657 median income · $787,679 median home · #2 home prices in South Carolina
Located in
Beaufort County, South Carolina
Hilton Head Island, sometimes referred to as simply Hilton Head, is a Lowcountry resort town and barrier island in Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. It is 20 miles northeast of Savannah, Georgia, and 95 miles southwest of Charleston. The island is named after Captain William Hilton, who in 1663 identified a headland near the entrance to Port Royal Sound, which he named “Hilton’s Head” after himself. The island features 12 miles of beachfront on the Atlantic Ocean and is a popular vacation destination. In 2004, an estimated 2.25 million visitors pumped more than $1.5 billion into the local economy. The year-round population was 37,099 at the 2010 census, although during the peak of summer vacation season the population can swell to 150,000. Over the past decade, the island’s population growth rate was 32%. Hilton Head Island is a primary city within the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Beaufort metropolitan area, which had an estimated population of 207,413 in 2015.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$142,000 median income · $611,048 median home · #3 home prices in South Carolina
Located in
York County, South Carolina
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$104,217 median income · $597,131 median home · #4 home prices in South Carolina
Located in
Charleston County, South Carolina
James Island is a town in Charleston County, South Carolina, United States. It is located in the central and southern parts of James Island. As defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, and used by the U.S. Census Bureau for statistical purposes only, James Island is included within the Charleston-North Charleston-Summerville metropolitan area and the Charleston-North Charleston Urbanized Area.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$78,365 median income · $426,445 median home · #9 home prices in South Carolina
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$92,414 median income · $589,607 median home · #5 home prices in South Carolina
Located in
Charleston County, South Carolina
Charleston is the oldest and largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston-North Charleston-Summerville Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina’s coastline and is located on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean formed by the confluence of the Ashley and Cooper rivers. Charleston had an estimated population of 134,385 in 2016. The estimated population of the Charleston metropolitan area, comprising Berkeley, Charleston, and Dorchester counties, was 761,155 residents in 2016, the third-largest in the state and the 78th-largest metropolitan statistical area in the United States.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$111,281 median income · $498,492 median home · #8 home prices in South Carolina
Located in
Beaufort County, South Carolina
Bluffton is a Lowcountry town in Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. It is primarily located around U.S. Route 278, between Hilton Head Island and Interstate 95. The town’s original one square mile area, now known as Old Town, is situated on a bluff along the May River. The population was counted by the 2010 census at 12,893. Bluffton is the fastest growing municipality in South Carolina with a population over 2,500, growing 882.7% between the 2000 and 2010 census. Bluffton is the fifth largest municipality in South Carolina by land area. The town is a primary city within the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Beaufort, SC Metropolitan Statistical Area. Bluffton is known for its eclectic Old Town district and natural views of the May River. It has been called “the last true coastal village of the South.”
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$71,472 median income · $327,592 median home · #24 home prices in South Carolina
Located in
Greenville County, South Carolina
Greenville is the largest city in and the seat of Greenville County, South Carolina, United States. The city’s mayor is Knox White, who has been in that position since December 1995. With an estimated population of 67,453 as of 2016, it is the sixth-largest city in the state. The population of the surrounding area was 400,492 as of 2010, making it the third-largest urban area in South Carolina as well as the fastest growing. Greenville is the largest city in the Greenville-Anderson-Mauldin Metropolitan Statistical Area. The MSA had a population of 884,975 in 2016, making it the largest in South Carolina and the third largest in The Carolinas.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$121,823 median income · $527,208 median home · #6 home prices in South Carolina
Located in
York County, South Carolina
Fort Mill, also known as Fort Mill Township, is a town in York County in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It is a suburb of the city of Charlotte, North Carolina and is located north of Rock Hill. As of 2015, approximately 13,662 people live inside the town’s corporate limits with a total of 36,119 people residing within the entire township. Some businesses and residents in the Indian Land community of neighboring Lancaster County often use Fort Mill as their city address as it is the nearest incorporated area, but the official town boundary is located only in York County.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$94,167 median income · $340,026 median home · #22 home prices in South Carolina
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is South Carolina’s statewide median.
South Carolina statewide median: $304,083
South Carolina statewide median: $69,324
On the map
Mapping the most expensive places in South Carolina
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How We Determined The Most Expensive Places To Live In The Palmetto State For 2026
The two most important things to think about when it comes to being able to afford a city in South Carolina are how much money you make and how much you have to 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 2020-2024 around incomes and costs. They are:
- Overall Cost Of Living Index
- Median Home Price / Median Income (lower is better)
- Median Income / Median Rent (Higher is better)
- Median Home Price
You can then compare these metrics in each of the places in South Carolina to figure out which is the most expensive.
You are left with 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 to rank all of the 64 places in South Carolina that have more than 5,000 people.
The place with the highest cost of living in South Carolina according to the data is Mount Pleasant. We updated this article for 2026. This article is our eleventh time ranking the most expensive places to live in South Carolina.
The full plate
Most Expensive Cities In South Carolina
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Cost Of Living | Population | Median Income | Average Home Price | Home/Income Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mount Pleasant | 142 | 93,993 | $124,755 | $875,092 | 7.0x |
| 2 | Hilton Head Island | 137 | 37,911 | $94,657 | $787,679 | 8.3x |
| 3 | Tega Cay | 131 | 13,615 | $142,000 | $611,048 | 4.3x |
| 4 | James Island | 127 | 12,198 | $104,217 | $597,131 | 5.7x |
| 5 | Hardeeville | 125 | 10,871 | $78,365 | $426,445 | 5.4x |
| 6 | Charleston | 121 | 154,338 | $92,414 | $589,607 | 6.4x |
| 7 | Bluffton | 120 | 33,157 | $111,281 | $498,492 | 4.5x |
| 8 | Greenville | 118 | 72,935 | $71,472 | $327,592 | 4.6x |
| 9 | Fort Mill | 116 | 30,775 | $121,823 | $527,208 | 4.3x |
| 10 | Blythewood | 114 | 5,731 | $94,167 | $340,026 | 3.6x |
| 11 | North Myrtle Beach | 113 | 19,855 | $72,722 | $390,621 | 5.4x |
| 12 | Clemson | 112 | 18,072 | $49,520 | $396,341 | 8.0x |
| 13 | Port Royal | 111 | 15,579 | $74,870 | $355,157 | 4.7x |
| 14 | Hanahan | 108 | 21,452 | $87,984 | $404,452 | 4.6x |
| 15 | Hollywood | 107 | 5,382 | $73,693 | $519,343 | 7.0x |
| 16 | Myrtle Beach | 106 | 38,371 | $60,394 | $320,925 | 5.3x |
| 17 | Beaufort | 105 | 13,747 | $61,220 | $412,456 | 6.7x |
| 18 | Goose Creek | 104 | 48,078 | $88,178 | $318,055 | 3.6x |
| 19 | Simpsonville | 104 | 26,144 | $82,457 | $377,970 | 4.6x |
| 20 | Summerville | 103 | 51,654 | $81,046 | $376,903 | 4.7x |
| 21 | Lexington | 102 | 24,585 | $87,126 | $303,204 | 3.5x |
| 22 | Travelers Rest | 102 | 8,370 | $54,583 | $353,916 | 6.5x |
| 23 | North Charleston | 101 | 119,913 | $62,956 | $309,522 | 4.9x |
| 24 | Moncks Corner | 101 | 15,485 | $91,500 | $360,391 | 3.9x |
| 25 | Columbia | 100 | 139,643 | $55,529 | $229,068 | 4.1x |
| 26 | Greer | 100 | 41,536 | $82,626 | $348,460 | 4.2x |
| 27 | Aiken | 100 | 32,521 | $76,746 | $272,072 | 3.5x |
| 28 | Forest Acres | 100 | 10,530 | $78,306 | $335,524 | 4.3x |
| 29 | Rock Hill | 99 | 75,259 | $68,771 | $326,184 | 4.7x |
| 30 | Mauldin | 98 | 27,055 | $82,331 | $297,318 | 3.6x |
| 31 | North Augusta | 98 | 25,653 | $86,092 | $265,723 | 3.1x |
| 32 | Irmo | 98 | 11,813 | $80,489 | $281,255 | 3.5x |
| 33 | Florence | 97 | 40,408 | $56,143 | $219,285 | 3.9x |
| 34 | Clover | 97 | 7,234 | $85,450 | $413,528 | 4.8x |
| 35 | Easley | 96 | 24,841 | $66,299 | $315,980 | 4.8x |
| 36 | Camden | 96 | 8,267 | $63,576 | $237,603 | 3.7x |
| 37 | West Columbia | 95 | 17,963 | $56,912 | $226,049 | 4.0x |
| 38 | Lancaster | 95 | 8,921 | $46,311 | $291,062 | 6.3x |
| 39 | Lyman | 95 | 6,547 | $75,653 | $303,651 | 4.0x |
| 40 | Conway | 94 | 27,263 | $56,650 | $286,177 | 5.1x |
| 41 | Cayce | 94 | 13,741 | $62,045 | $210,165 | 3.4x |
| 42 | Sumter | 93 | 43,053 | $55,592 | $213,463 | 3.8x |
| 43 | Fountain Inn | 93 | 12,020 | $73,585 | $305,626 | 4.2x |
| 44 | Seneca | 93 | 8,993 | $52,022 | $304,236 | 5.8x |
| 45 | Georgetown | 93 | 8,565 | $56,981 | $250,504 | 4.4x |
| 46 | Anderson | 92 | 30,051 | $46,933 | $272,108 | 5.8x |
| 47 | Hartsville | 92 | 7,419 | $49,272 | $179,199 | 3.6x |
| 48 | Central | 92 | 5,320 | $60,258 | $284,221 | 4.7x |
| 49 | Spartanburg | 91 | 38,910 | $51,964 | $233,687 | 4.5x |
| 50 | Orangeburg | 91 | 13,253 | $38,635 | $162,436 | 4.2x |
| 51 | Newberry | 90 | 10,790 | $51,260 | $166,455 | 3.2x |
| 52 | York | 90 | 8,969 | $56,176 | $356,169 | 6.3x |
| 53 | Darlington | 90 | 6,120 | $33,952 | $153,323 | 4.5x |
| 54 | Laurens | 89 | 9,336 | $49,246 | $180,131 | 3.7x |
| 55 | Dillon | 89 | 6,354 | $35,891 | $100,984 | 2.8x |
| 56 | Lake City | 88 | 5,988 | $33,600 | $126,633 | 3.8x |
| 57 | Marion | 87 | 6,206 | $30,662 | $145,563 | 4.7x |
| 58 | Walterboro | 87 | 5,480 | $56,457 | $210,403 | 3.7x |
| 59 | Gaffney | 86 | 12,596 | $41,089 | $185,841 | 4.5x |
| 60 | Bennettsville | 86 | 7,751 | $37,115 | $81,007 | 2.2x |
| 61 | Clinton | 86 | 7,676 | $44,522 | $163,866 | 3.7x |
| 62 | Union | 85 | 8,079 | $31,914 | $136,356 | 4.3x |
| 63 | Greenwood | 84 | 22,536 | $41,150 | $183,963 | 4.5x |
| 64 | Chester | 80 | 5,218 | $46,138 | $128,680 | 2.8x |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024, Zillow research. 64 places with more than 5,000 residents.
Summary
Summary: Taking A Chunk Out Of Your Paycheck In South Carolina For 2026
Well, there you have it, the places in South Carolina that have the highest cost of living, with Mount Pleasant ranking as the most expensive city in the Palmetto State.
The most expensive cities in South Carolina are Mount Pleasant, Hilton Head Island, Tega Cay, James Island, Hardeeville, Charleston, Bluffton, Greenville, Fort Mill, and Blythewood.
