Side-by-side metrics and state or size-class ranks use the same Census and FBI fields shown on this profile. Results stay in the URL so you can bookmark or share them.
Place dossier plate
SheetSC-CHERAW-SC · Cheraw, SC 5,024 pop · income 2nd pct · 14 tracts
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 Cheraw
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Cheraw on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Henry · lowest
27,254
Henry · lowest
27,254 median HH income
25.8% of the leader · rank #1
Prestonsburg · near
27,265
Prestonsburg · near
27,265 median HH income
25.8% of the leader · rank #2
Huntsville · near
27,266
Huntsville · near
27,266 median HH income
25.8% of the leader · rank #3
Cheraw · this city
27,275
Cheraw · this city
27,275 median HH income
25.8% of the leader · rank #4
Shellman · near
27,292
Shellman · near
27,292 median HH income
25.8% of the leader · rank #5
Oak Level · near
27,292
Oak Level · near
27,292 median HH income
25.8% of the leader · rank #6
Blythewood · highest
105,583
Blythewood · highest
105,583 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 Cheraw 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: 5,024.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Cheraw - the verdict
Nationally, Cheraw sits in the 2nd percentile for household income and the 1st percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
2nd
percentile, household income
15th
percentile, home value
46th
percentile, median rent
1st
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: Cheraw, SC
South Carolina's Cheraw is a small town, with 5,024 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Households in Cheraw report a median income of $27,275 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 27.8%. Typical homes in Cheraw are valued around $113,400, and the median resident age is 45.1 years. About 21.0% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 46.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 2 residential building permits were authorized in Cheraw (Construction Slowdown), down 95% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Cheraw's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: FBI UCR figures show 8447.0 crimes per 100,000 residents, above the national average (reporting is voluntary across agencies, so treat this as reporting activity rather than a definitive danger score). The annual average temperature per NOAA climate normals runs 61.9°F with 48.6 inches of precipitation per year and 0.1 inches of snowfall.
Living costs in South Carolina run below the national norm: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts South Carolina at 93.7 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Below Average). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,155 per month. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts South Carolina's average monthly utility costs around $224 (state average). 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 Cheraw'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 comparison shortlist to climate and hazard context to schools and households to within-city variation to population change to housing and income to reported crime to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Cheraw, city-specific coverage includes within-city Census tract profiles, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
1. Comparison shortlist
Which cities make useful reference points for Cheraw?
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 Batesburg-Leesville (4,935 residents, $53,102 income); Abbeville (4,863 residents, $38,983 income); Chester (5,241 residents, $41,231 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Kenneth City, FL (5,025 residents); Wright City, MO (5,025 residents); Lake City, MN (5,021 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.
The two sources should not be blended into one comfort or safety score. Use the climate values for baseline conditions and the risk index as a prompt to inspect specific hazards, insurance, and local emergency guidance for a particular address.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 61.9°F, with 48.6 inches of precipitation and 0.1 inches of annual snowfall. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for South Carolina is 70.7 out of 100. Climate normals describe long-run weather; the FEMA score on PlainCities is a state average of county NRI inputs and combines hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and resilience.
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 4 public schools within the city match. 21.0% 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.
PlainCities matches 14 Census tracts to this city.
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
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.
Population change
Is Cheraw growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -78 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -1.6% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 2 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 downward. A falling count can reflect migration, household size, annexation boundaries, or estimation noise, so it is a prompt to inspect the full series rather than a claim about local economic health.
2020 estimate
4,999
2025 estimate
4,921
Period change
-1.6%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
How far does income reach against housing in Cheraw?
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 4.2 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 27.8%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
4.2×
Home value
$113,400
Household income
$27,275
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Cheraw?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 8447.0 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 270% 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
8447.0
Violent rate
1163.7
Property rate
7283.3
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
What does the journey to work look like in Cheraw?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 80.0%. 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.
Drive alone
80.0%
Work from home
1.1%
Public transit
0.0%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 1,895 workers age 16+.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 27.8% (Highest-decile poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
93.7 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, South Carolina average
F
City profile score · Cheraw, SC
20/100
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
21.0%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
27.8%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$27,275
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime F
1,164 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Cheraw profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 70/100 (B) · 93.7 index
Bachelor's+ share: 37/100 (F) · 21.0%
Poverty rate: 3/100 (F) · 27.8%
Household income: 0/100 (F) · $27,275
Violent crime: 0/100 (F) · 1,164 /100k
Where Cheraw sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Cheraw'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 - Cheraw highlighted among 27 peers.Read the chart values
Cheraw, SC (this city): home $113,400, crime 8,447/100k
Wright City, MO : home $216,800, crime 633/100k
Lake City, MN : home $234,100, crime 975/100k
Batesburg-Leesville, SC : home $130,500, crime 3,541/100k
Abbeville, SC : home $108,500, crime 1,686/100k
Chester, SC : home $106,400, crime 4,835/100k
Central, SC : home $228,500, crime 1,311/100k
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 Cheraw compare to other US cities?
Where Cheraw sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income2% higher than other cities
Home value15% pricier than other cities
Median rent46% pricier than other cities
Safety1% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
National percentiles can mask local variation. Looking only at South Carolina, Cheraw ranks #124 of 127 South Carolina cities by lowest crime rate - a narrower, more locally useful cut than the national comparison above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Cheraw 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 Cheraw near the bottom of South Carolina's cities
Among the 441 South Carolina cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Cheraw ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Cheraw only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#386 of 403
4th percentile in South Carolina
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 441
0th percentile in South Carolina
Median Home Value
#272 of 404
33rd percentile in South Carolina
Poverty Rate
#70 of 439
84th percentile in South Carolina
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#183 of 441
58th 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
2nd percentile nationally for median household income · 1st percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Cheraw's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Cheraw'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 Cheraw's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$113,400Among the most affordablemore affordable than 85% 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
Cheraw's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.2×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#11,133 of 15,516
More affordable than 28% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#8,646 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 4.2×, Cheraw sits in the moderate band:
national rank #11,133 of 15,516 and #8,646 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
$27,275Cheraw, SC median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Cheraw, 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 Cheraw, SC.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)21.0%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)27.8%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)46.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
5,024
Median Income
$27,275
Median Home Value
$113,400
Median Age
45.1
Poverty Rate
27.8%
Labor force participation
46.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
21.0%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
8447.0
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
1163.7
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
7283.3
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.
Climate
Avg Temperature
61.9°F
Annual Precipitation
48.6"
Annual Snowfall
0.1"
Schools
Total Schools
4
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Cheraw's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
4,999 residents
2021
4,954 residents
2022
4,928 residents
2023
4,963 residents
2024
4,940 residents
2025
4,921 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
2
housing units authorized
Single-Family
2
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.4
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
40
5
35
$4.6M
2020
5
1
4
$0.3M
2021
2
2
0
$0.5M
2022
4
4
0
$0.8M
2023
0
0
0
-
2024
2
2
0
$0.3M
Permit volume decreased 95% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
80.0%
Carpool
2.6%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
5.6%
Work from Home
1.1%
Other
10.7%
Based on 1,895 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 Cheraw. 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 Cheraw 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 Cheraw sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Cheraw 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, NOAA Climate Normals, NCES CCD, 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.