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Place dossier plate
SheetSC-FLORENCE-SC · Florence, SC 40,205 pop · income 30th pct · 36 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 Florence
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Florence on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Arecibo zona… · lowest
21,984
Arecibo zona… · lowest
21,984 median HH income
17.3% of the leader · rank #1
Steen · near
56,429
Steen · near
56,429 median HH income
44.3% of the leader · rank #2
Lowellville · near
56,429
Lowellville · near
56,429 median HH income
44.3% of the leader · rank #3
Florence · this city
56,433
Florence · this city
56,433 median HH income
44.3% of the leader · rank #4
Madison · near
56,435
Madison · near
56,435 median HH income
44.3% of the leader · rank #5
Van Etten · near
56,435
Van Etten · near
56,435 median HH income
44.3% of the leader · rank #6
Valley Stream · highest
127,426
Valley Stream · highest
127,426 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 Florence 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: 40,205.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Florence - the verdict
Florence ranks in the 30th percentile for household income and the 4th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
30th
percentile, household income
40th
percentile, home value
46th
percentile, median rent
4th
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: Florence, SC
40,205 people live in Florence, South Carolina - a small city by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Florence brings in $56,433 a year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 12.9%. Typical homes in Florence are valued around $189,800, and the median resident age is 37.6 years. 29.9% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 56.5% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 365 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Stable), down 4% from five years earlier. Florence's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: per-100,000 total crime stands at 4725.2 in FBI UCR data, above the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). NOAA puts Florence's yearly average temperature at 64.2°F with 48.1 inches of precipitation per year.
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). A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,155 per month statewide. Monthly utility costs average around $224 across South Carolina, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. The average commute for Florence workers runs 16.8 minutes, with 78.2% driving alone and 10.1% working from home. 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 Florence'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 schools and households to comparison shortlist to within-city variation to population change to housing and income to reported crime to climate and hazard context; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Florence, city-specific coverage includes within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history, commute-mode shares, FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, matched public-school count.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
What does the journey to work look like in Florence?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 78.2%. The reported mean trip to work is 16.8 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.
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 22 public schools within the city match. 29.9% 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Florence?
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 Greer (39,191 residents, $80,030 income); Spartanburg (38,578 residents, $51,193 income); Hilton Head Island (37,805 residents, $96,715 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are The Acreage, FL (40,188 residents); Arecibo zona urbana, PR (40,255 residents); Valley Stream, NY (40,278 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.
PlainCities matches 36 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 Florence growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +1,262 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +3.2% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 365 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.
2020 estimate
39,969
2025 estimate
41,231
Period change
+3.2%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
How far does income reach against housing in Florence?
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. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.4 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 12.9%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
3.4×
Home value
$189,800
Household income
$56,433
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 Florence?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 4725.2 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 107% 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
4725.2
Violent rate
806.7
Property rate
3918.5
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
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 64.2°F, with 48.1 inches of precipitation. 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.
FEMA risk index (state avg)
70.7
Annual precipitation
48.1 in
Mean temperature
64.2°F
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
Below median income · poverty 12.9% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
93.7 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, South Carolina average
F
City profile score · Florence, SC
36/100
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 C
29.9%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$56,433
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
12.9%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime F
807 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Florence profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 70/100 (B) · 93.7 index
Bachelor's+ share: 58/100 (C) · 29.9%
Household income: 29/100 (F) · $56,433
Poverty rate: 28/100 (F) · 12.9%
Violent crime: 1/100 (F) · 807 /100k
Where Florence sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Florence'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 - Florence highlighted among 9 peers.Read the chart values
Florence, SC (this city): home $189,800, crime 4,725/100k
Findlay, OH : home $183,300, crime 1,948/100k
Cottage Grove, MN : home $359,600, crime 721/100k
Cape Girardeau, MO : home $186,100, crime 3,080/100k
Greer, SC : home $264,300, crime 2,072/100k
Spartanburg, SC : home $185,300, crime 6,709/100k
Sumter, SC : home $188,400, crime 4,804/100k
Myrtle Beach, SC : home $347,700, crime 6,767/100k
Goose Creek, SC : home $279,500, crime 1,722/100k
How does Florence compare to other US cities?
Here's how Florence stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income30% higher than other cities
Home value40% pricier than other cities
Median rent46% pricier than other cities
Safety4% 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, Florence ranks #93 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 Florence 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 Florence near the bottom of South Carolina's cities
Among the 441 South Carolina cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Florence ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Florence only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#160 of 403
60th percentile in South Carolina
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 441
0th percentile in South Carolina
Median Home Value
#144 of 404
64th percentile in South Carolina
Poverty Rate
#225 of 439
49th percentile in South Carolina
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#103 of 441
76th 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
30th percentile nationally for median household income · 4th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Florence's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Florence'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 Florence's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$189,800Among the most affordablemore affordable than 60% 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
Florence's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.4×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#8,406 of 15,516
More affordable than 46% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#1,356 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 3.4×, Florence sits in the moderate band:
national rank #8,406 of 15,516 and #1,356 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
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
$56,433Florence, SC median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Florence, 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 Florence, SC.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)29.9%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)12.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)56.5%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
40,205
Median Income
$56,433
Median Home Value
$189,800
Median Age
37.6
Poverty Rate
12.9%
Labor force participation
56.5%
Bachelor's Degree+
29.9%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
4725.2
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
806.7
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
3918.5
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.
Climate
Avg Temperature
64.2°F
Annual Precipitation
48.1"
Annual Snowfall
0.0"
Schools
Total Schools
22
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Florence's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
39,969 residents
2021
40,013 residents
2022
40,164 residents
2023
40,606 residents
2024
40,927 residents
2025
41,231 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Stable
Total Permits (2024)
365
housing units authorized
Single-Family
325
detached homes
Multifamily
40
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
9.1
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
382
234
148
$49.1M
2020
291
169
122
$38.0M
2021
240
238
2
$35.9M
2022
334
280
54
$50.5M
2023
240
238
2
$39.6M
2024
365
325
40
$54.0M
Permit volume decreased 4% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
16.8 minutes
Drive Alone
78.2%
Carpool
9.6%
Public Transit
0.4%
Walk
0.6%
Work from Home
10.1%
Other
1.1%
Based on 17,796 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 Florence. 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 Florence 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 Florence sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Florence 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.