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Place dossier plate
SheetSC-ATLANTIC-BEACH-SC · Atlantic Beach, SC 283 pop · income 8th pct
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Atlantic Beach
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Atlantic Beach on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Siloam · lowest
23,636
Siloam · lowest
23,636 median HH income
24.9% of the leader · rank #1
Atlantic Beach · this city
40,000
Atlantic Beach · this city
40,000 median HH income
42.1% of the leader · rank #2
Rock Point · near
40,000
Rock Point · near
40,000 median HH income
42.1% of the leader · rank #3
Winkelman · near
40,000
Winkelman · near
40,000 median HH income
42.1% of the leader · rank #4
Ovid · near
40,000
Ovid · near
40,000 median HH income
42.1% of the leader · rank #5
Attapulgus · near
40,000
Attapulgus · near
40,000 median HH income
42.1% of the leader · rank #6
Oakdale · highest
95,000
Oakdale · highest
95,000 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Atlantic Beach on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 283.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Atlantic Beach - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Atlantic Beach places in the 8th percentile for household income and the 2nd percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
8th
percentile, household income
71st
percentile, home value
46th
percentile, median rent
2nd
percentile, safety
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Atlantic Beach, SC
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 283 residents in Atlantic Beach, a small town within South Carolina. Households in Atlantic Beach report a median income of $40,000 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 19.5%. Home values in Atlantic Beach run a median of $342,100, and the median resident age is 42.2 years. About 16.4% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 65.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 60 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Building Boom), up 100% from five years earlier. Atlantic Beach's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: per-100,000 total crime stands at 6046.5 in FBI UCR data, above the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
Living costs in South Carolina run below the national norm: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, South Carolina scores 93.7 (Below Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,155 per month. Monthly utility costs average around $224 across South Carolina, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. Natural-hazard exposure scores 70.7 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (High).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Atlantic Beach's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from housing and income to population change to work and mobility to reported crime to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Atlantic Beach, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates, commute-mode shares, local building permits.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, matched public-school count; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Atlantic Beach?
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 8.6 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 19.5%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Is Atlantic Beach growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +271 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +134.8% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 60 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Recent estimates point upward. Growth can increase housing demand and service needs, but the permit record must move in the same direction before calling it a supply response; the two series measure different things.
What does the journey to work look like in Atlantic Beach?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 70.4%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
Which cities make useful reference points for Atlantic Beach?
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
Within South Carolina, the closest population matches are Buford (283 residents, $77,639 income); Snelling (283 residents, $41,042 income); Ward (284 residents, $55,625 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Sipsey, AL (283 residents); Carrizo, AZ (283 residents); Lead Hill, AR (283 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Reported crime
What can the FBI record say about safety in Atlantic Beach?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 6046.5 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 165% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
Total reported rate
6046.5
Violent rate
2093.0
Property rate
3953.5
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 19.5% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
93.7 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, South Carolina average
F
City profile score · Atlantic Beach, SC
22/100
5 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Cost of living B
93.7 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Bachelor's+ share F
16.4%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
19.5%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$40,000
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime F
2,093 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Atlantic Beach profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 70/100 (B) · 93.7 index
Bachelor's+ share: 24/100 (F) · 16.4%
Poverty rate: 14/100 (F) · 19.5%
Household income: 7/100 (F) · $40,000
Violent crime: 0/100 (F) · 2,093 /100k
Where Atlantic Beach sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Atlantic Beach's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Atlantic Beach highlighted among 22 peers.Read the chart values
Atlantic Beach, SC (this city): home $342,100, crime 6,047/100k
Lead Hill, AR : home $103,800, crime 350/100k
New York, NY : home $751,700, crime 3,039/100k
Los Angeles, CA : home $879,500, crime 2,212/100k
Chicago, IL : home $315,200, crime 4,012/100k
Houston, TX : home $253,400, crime 5,442/100k
Phoenix, AZ : home $381,900, crime 3,125/100k
Philadelphia, PA : home $232,400, crime 5,457/100k
San Antonio, TX : home $219,700, crime 5,218/100k
San Diego, CA : home $848,500, crime 2,082/100k
Dallas, TX : home $295,300, crime 4,010/100k
San Jose, CA : home $1,187,800, crime 3,195/100k
Austin, TX : home $512,700, crime 3,709/100k
Fort Worth, TX : home $277,300, crime 3,158/100k
Columbus, OH : home $234,500, crime 3,088/100k
Indianapolis, IN : home $207,000, crime 4,214/100k
San Francisco, CA : home $1,380,500, crime 4,526/100k
Seattle, WA : home $912,100, crime 5,783/100k
Denver, CO : home $586,700, crime 5,755/100k
Oklahoma City, OK : home $215,100, crime 3,570/100k
El Paso, TX : home $171,700, crime 1,772/100k
Washington, DC : home $724,600, crime 4,514/100k
How does Atlantic Beach compare to other US cities?
Here's how Atlantic Beach stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income8% higher than other cities
Home value71% pricier than other cities
Median rent46% pricier than other cities
Safety2% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
A national percentile can hide a lot of local variation: narrowed to South Carolina alone, Atlantic Beach ranks #106 of 127 South Carolina cities by lowest crime rate - a different, more locally useful comparison than stacking it against the entire country.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Atlantic Beach against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to South Carolina only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
South Carolina-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Atlantic Beach near the bottom of South Carolina's cities
Among the 441 South Carolina cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Atlantic Beach ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Atlantic Beach only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#298 of 403
26th percentile in South Carolina
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 441
0th percentile in South Carolina
Median Home Value
#43 of 404
89th percentile in South Carolina
Poverty Rate
#137 of 439
68th percentile in South Carolina
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#259 of 441
41st percentile in South Carolina
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within South Carolina only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
8th percentile nationally for median household income · 2nd percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Atlantic Beach's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Atlantic Beach's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Atlantic Beach's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$342,10029th percentilemore affordable than 29% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Atlantic Beach's home-value-to-income ratio: 8.6×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#15,178 of 15,516
More affordable than 2% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#11,122 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 8.6×, Atlantic Beach sits in the pressured band:
national rank #15,178 of 15,516 and #11,122 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median, a comparison flag, not a verdict on any household.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$40,000Atlantic Beach, SC median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Atlantic Beach, SC median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Atlantic Beach, SC.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)16.4%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)19.5%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)65.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
283
Median Income
$40,000
Median Home Value
$342,100
Median Age
42.2
Poverty Rate
19.5%
Labor force participation
65.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
16.4%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
6046.5
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
2093.0
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
3953.5
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Atlantic Beach's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
201 residents
2021
232 residents
2022
286 residents
2023
356 residents
2024
420 residents
2025
472 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
60
housing units authorized
Single-Family
0
detached homes
Multifamily
60
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
212
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
30
0
30
$1.5M
2020
35
0
35
$1.8M
2021
60
0
60
$3.0M
2022
81
0
81
$4.0M
2023
71
0
71
$3.5M
2024
60
0
60
$3.0M
Permit volume increased 100% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
70.4%
Carpool
7.0%
Public Transit
7.0%
Walk
4.2%
Work from Home
6.3%
Other
5.1%
Based on 142 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
South Carolina statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $224
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across South Carolina at $224 (electricity about $130 , water and sewer about $42 ).
These are South Carolina statewide averages, not a meter reading for Atlantic Beach. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
South Carolina's BEA cost-of-living index is 93.7 (Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Atlantic Beach is $1,155/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to South Carolina statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 70.7 / 100 (High).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a South Carolina statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Atlantic Beach sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Atlantic Beach compares to similar-size South Carolina cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, FBI UCR, Census BPS 2024, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.