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Place dossier plate
SheetSC-GIFFORD-SC · Gifford, SC 200 pop · income 2nd 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 Gifford
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Gifford on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Gifford · this city · lowest
29,583
Gifford · this city · lowest
29,583 median HH income
21.1% of the leader · rank #1
Antonito · near
29,583
Antonito · near
29,583 median HH income
21.1% of the leader · rank #2
Stites · near
29,583
Stites · near
29,583 median HH income
21.1% of the leader · rank #3
Nash · near
29,583
Nash · near
29,583 median HH income
21.1% of the leader · rank #4
Baldwin · near
29,592
Baldwin · near
29,592 median HH income
21.1% of the leader · rank #5
Plattville · highest
140,313
Plattville · highest
140,313 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #6
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 Gifford 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: 200.
Nationally, Gifford sits in the 2nd percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
2nd
percentile, household income
7th
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: Gifford, SC
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 200 residents in Gifford, a small town within South Carolina. Gifford households earn a median of $29,583 annually, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 15.0%. Gifford's housing stock carries a median value of $91,900, and the median resident age is 37.5 years. Educational attainment runs 10.9% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 48.6% 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. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,155 per month statewide. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in South Carolina run around $224, per EIA 2023 residential energy 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 Gifford'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 work and mobility to housing and income to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Gifford, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Which cities make useful reference points for Gifford?
Within South Carolina, the closest population matches are Rembert (199 residents, $50,950 income); Elko (198 residents, $41,023 income); Nichols (195 residents, $46,471 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Gakona, AK (200 residents); Day, FL (200 residents); Laclede, ID (200 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.
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.
What does the journey to work look like in Gifford?
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.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 65.4%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
How far does income reach against housing in Gifford?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.1 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 15.0%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
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.
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.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -8 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -3.0% 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.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 15.0% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
93.7 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, South Carolina average
F
City profile score · Gifford, SC
25/100
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.
Poverty rate F
15.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
10.9%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$29,583
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).
Gifford profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 70/100 (B) · 93.7 index
Poverty rate: 23/100 (F) · 15.0%
Bachelor's+ share: 9/100 (F) · 10.9%
Household income: 0/100 (F) · $29,583
How does Gifford compare to other US cities?
Where Gifford 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 value7% 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 Gifford 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 Gifford near the bottom of South Carolina's cities
Among the 441 South Carolina cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Gifford ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Gifford only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#373 of 403
7th percentile in South Carolina
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 441
0th percentile in South Carolina
Median Home Value
#326 of 404
19th percentile in South Carolina
Poverty Rate
#201 of 439
53rd percentile in South Carolina
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#340 of 441
22nd 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. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Gifford's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$91,900Among the most affordablemore affordable than 93% 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
Gifford's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.1×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#7,218 of 15,516
More affordable than 53% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#6,017 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.1×, Gifford sits in the moderate band:
national rank #7,218 of 15,516 and #6,017 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
$29,583Gifford, SC median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Gifford, 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 Gifford, SC.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)10.9%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)15.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)48.6%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
200
Median Income
$29,583
Median Home Value
$91,900
Median Age
37.5
Poverty Rate
15.0%
Labor force participation
48.6%
Bachelor's Degree+
10.9%
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Gifford's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
270 residents
2021
265 residents
2022
264 residents
2023
264 residents
2024
264 residents
2025
262 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
65.4%
Carpool
8.6%
Public Transit
4.9%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
13.6%
Other
7.5%
Based on 81 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 Gifford. 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 Gifford 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 Gifford sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Gifford 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.