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Place dossier plate
SheetSC-BEN-AVON-SC · Ben Avon, SC 2,334 pop · income 15th 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 Ben Avon
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Ben Avon on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Royston · lowest
31,136
Royston · lowest
31,136 median HH income
22.8% of the leader · rank #1
Hartwell · near
46,729
Hartwell · near
46,729 median HH income
34.2% of the leader · rank #2
Aurora · near
46,733
Aurora · near
46,733 median HH income
34.2% of the leader · rank #3
Ben Avon · this city
46,736
Ben Avon · this city
46,736 median HH income
34.2% of the leader · rank #4
Fort Pierce · near
46,745
Fort Pierce · near
46,745 median HH income
34.2% of the leader · rank #5
Belk · near
46,750
Belk · near
46,750 median HH income
34.2% of the leader · rank #6
Point of Rocks · highest
136,827
Point of Rocks · highest
136,827 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 Ben Avon 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: 2,334.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Ben Avon places in the 15th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
15th
percentile, household income
43rd
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: Ben Avon, SC
2,334 people live in Ben Avon, South Carolina - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Ben Avon report a median income of $46,736 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 16.0%. Ben Avon's housing stock carries a median value of $198,900, and the median resident age is 35.9 years. Educational attainment runs 26.1% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 67.2% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
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. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,155 monthly. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts South Carolina's average monthly utility costs around $224 (state average). Commute times here average 24.4 minutes, with 82.8% driving alone and 7.1% working from home, per Census ACS commuting data. 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 Ben Avon'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 work and mobility to comparison shortlist to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Ben Avon, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, matched public-school count, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What does the journey to work look like in Ben Avon?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 82.8%. The reported mean trip to work is 24.4 minutes.
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 Ben Avon?
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 Privateer (2,294 residents, $49,861 income); Estill (2,287 residents, $36,547 income); Edisto (2,261 residents, $46,644 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Dyer, TN (2,334 residents); Aristocrat Ranchettes, CO (2,335 residents); Demorest, GA (2,335 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Ben Avon?
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 4.3 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 16.0%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, South Carolina average
F
City profile score · Ben Avon, SC
37/100
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 C-
26.1%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
16.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$46,736
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).
Ben Avon profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 70/100 (B) · 93.7 index
Bachelor's+ share: 51/100 (C-) · 26.1%
Poverty rate: 21/100 (F) · 16.0%
Household income: 16/100 (F) · $46,736
How does Ben Avon compare to other US cities?
Where Ben Avon sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income15% higher than other cities
Home value43% 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 Ben Avon 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 Ben Avon near the bottom of South Carolina's cities
Among the 441 South Carolina cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Ben Avon ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Ben Avon only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#243 of 403
40th percentile in South Carolina
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 441
0th percentile in South Carolina
Median Home Value
#129 of 404
68th percentile in South Carolina
Poverty Rate
#180 of 439
58th percentile in South Carolina
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#133 of 441
69th 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
15th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Ben Avon's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$198,900Among the most affordablemore affordable than 57% 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
Ben Avon's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.3×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#11,410 of 15,516
More affordable than 26% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#8,819 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 4.3×, Ben Avon sits in the moderate band:
national rank #11,410 of 15,516 and #8,819 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
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
$46,736Ben Avon, SC median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Ben Avon, 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 Ben Avon, SC.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)26.1%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)16.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)67.2%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
2,334
Median Income
$46,736
Median Home Value
$198,900
Median Age
35.9
Poverty Rate
16.0%
Labor force participation
67.2%
Bachelor's Degree+
26.1%
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
24.4 minutes
Drive Alone
82.8%
Carpool
10.1%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
7.1%
Based on 1,317 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 Ben Avon. 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 Ben Avon 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 Ben Avon sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Ben Avon 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, 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.