Living in Charleston, SC

It's elevated — there's no way to sugarcoat a violent crime index of 139 when the national average sits at 100. Property crime is at 154. That said, city-wide averages hide a lot of variation. There are safe, quiet neighborhoods in Charleston where people raise families without much worry. The key is doing granular research: talk to residents, check precinct-level data, and visit at different times of day before signing a lease. FBI UCR numbers.

By most measures, yes. The median rent of $1,632/month against a median household income of $90,038/year works out to a 21.8% rent-to-income ratio. Financial planners generally want that number under 30%, so Charleston clears the bar with room to spare. You'll have breathing space for savings, car payments, and the occasional splurge. Numbers from Census ACS 2023.

Most people in Charleston are at work within 20 minutes — a pretty reasonable commute by American standards. The breakdown: 68.1% drive alone, 0.9% take public transit, and 17.6% work from home. Rush hour adds time, obviously, but the baseline is manageable.

Charleston faces a moderate level of climate risk — score of 43/100. The top threats are Flood, Hurricane, and Heat Wave. None of these hit every year, but they're real possibilities that affect insurance rates and emergency planning. Make sure your policy covers the relevant perils, keep a basic emergency kit, and know your evacuation routes if you're in a flood-prone area. FEMA and NOAA data.

Mixed. The city-wide graduation rate is 84.0% and classrooms average 16 students per teacher. Some schools here are legitimately excellent — strong test scores, engaged communities, good resources. Others struggle. The gap between the best and worst is wider than you might expect. Do your homework on individual schools rather than relying on the city-wide number.

Good, overall. The median AQI sits at 40, which falls within the EPA's "Good" category, and Charleston logs 278 clean-air days annually. Ozone is the main pollutant. Occasional spikes happen — wildfire smoke, temperature inversions, or high-ozone days — but they're the exception, not the rule. Check AirNow.gov during allergy season or summer heat waves.

Higher than average, yes. The total effective tax rate lands around 14.6% when you add up income, property, and sales taxes. Sales tax is 9.0%. High-tax areas often come with better public schools, infrastructure, and services — but that's not guaranteed, and it's cold comfort on payday. If you're moving from a low-tax state like Texas or Florida, brace for a noticeable dip in take-home pay.

Everything on this page is built from public government sources: rent and income figures from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS 5-Year Estimates, 2023); commute and transportation data from Census ACS tables B08303 and B08006; crime rates from the FBI Uniform Crime Report; climate risk assessments using FEMA disaster declarations and NOAA storm records; air quality measurements from the EPA's Air Quality System database; school data from the National Center for Education Statistics. We refresh each dataset monthly through an automated pipeline and cross-check for anomalies. No surveys, no user-submitted guesses — just official federal data presented in a way that's actually useful for people researching a move.