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Place dossier plate
SheetSC-BELTON-SC · Belton, SC 4,405 pop · income 17th 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 Belton
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Belton on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Summerville · lowest
31,429
Summerville · lowest
31,429 median HH income
16.8% of the leader · rank #1
Mount Shasta · near
48,157
Mount Shasta · near
48,157 median HH income
25.8% of the leader · rank #2
Hillsboro · near
48,158
Hillsboro · near
48,158 median HH income
25.8% of the leader · rank #3
Belton · this city
48,164
Belton · this city
48,164 median HH income
25.8% of the leader · rank #4
Cherokee · near
48,173
Cherokee · near
48,173 median HH income
25.8% of the leader · rank #5
Colorado City · near
48,173
Colorado City · near
48,173 median HH income
25.8% of the leader · rank #6
Thornwood · highest
186,635
Thornwood · highest
186,635 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
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Belton on ACS population and median household income
. 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: 4,405.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Belton places in the 17th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
17th
percentile, household income
16th
percentile, home value
46th
percentile, median rent
📝 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: Belton, SC
4,405 people live in Belton, South Carolina - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Belton report a median income of $48,164 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 15.9%. Home values in Belton run a median of $116,300, and the median resident age is 33.4 years. About 15.6% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 61.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The city is served by 5 public schools according to NCES Common Core of Data.
Living costs in South Carolina run below the national norm: the state registers 93.7 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Below Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. 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. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 70.7 out of 100 (High).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Belton'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 schools and households to population change to housing and income to comparison shortlist to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Belton, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, annual population history, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Belton?
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
The NCES join finds 5 public schools within the city match. 15.6% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +290 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +6.7% change. No comparable local building-permit series is available here, so population change should not be read as a housing-supply measure. 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Belton?
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. The ratio makes housing the clearest place to start this profile, but a low multiple can coexist with slow demand, older stock, or household-level hardship. Compare the home-value distribution and same-state peer table before treating it as an advantage.
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 2.4 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 15.9%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Which cities make useful reference points for Belton?
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.
Within South Carolina, the closest population matches are Baxter (4,355 residents, $146,440 income); Isle of Palms (4,350 residents, $148,029 income); Woodruff (4,337 residents, $64,292 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Vilonia, AR (4,405 residents); Thornwood, NY (4,405 residents); Summerville, GA (4,406 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.
Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Belton?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 86.8%. 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. The profile is strongly car-oriented, so a relocation comparison should put trip distance, vehicle access, and household fuel costs ahead of a citywide commute average. The same-state peer links offer a more relevant benchmark than a national label.
Drive alone
86.8%
Work from home
0.5%
Public transit
0.0%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 1,963 workers age 16+.
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, South Carolina average
F
City profile score · Belton, SC
33/100
4 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
15.6%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
15.9%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$48,164
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Belton profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 70/100 (B) · 93.7 index
Bachelor's+ share: 22/100 (F) · 15.6%
Poverty rate: 21/100 (F) · 15.9%
Household income: 18/100 (F) · $48,164
How does Belton compare to other US cities?
Belton measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income17% higher than other cities
Home value16% pricier than other cities
Median rent46% pricier than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Belton 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 Belton near the bottom of South Carolina's cities
Among the 441 South Carolina cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Belton ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Belton only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#229 of 403
43rd percentile in South Carolina
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 441
0th percentile in South Carolina
Median Home Value
#265 of 404
34th percentile in South Carolina
Poverty Rate
#187 of 439
57th percentile in South Carolina
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#268 of 441
39th 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
17th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Belton's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$116,300Among the most affordablemore affordable than 84% 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
Belton's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.4×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#3,566 of 15,516
More affordable than 77% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#3,243 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.4×, Belton sits in the affordable band:
national rank #3,566 of 15,516 and #3,243 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
The multiple is comparatively compact among tracked cities, but a low ratio can still coexist with slow demand or household-level hardship.
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
$48,164Belton, SC median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Belton, 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 Belton, SC.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)15.6%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)15.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)61.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
4,405
Median Income
$48,164
Median Home Value
$116,300
Median Age
33.4
Poverty Rate
15.9%
Labor force participation
61.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
15.6%
Schools
Total Schools
5
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Belton's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
4,341 residents
2021
4,395 residents
2022
4,450 residents
2023
4,529 residents
2024
4,586 residents
2025
4,631 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
86.8%
Carpool
12.0%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.6%
Work from Home
0.5%
Based on 1,963 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 Belton. 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 Belton 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 Belton sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Belton 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, NCES CCD, 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.