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Place dossier plate
SheetSC-GREENVILLE-SC · Greenville, SC 71,755 pop · income 48th pct · 123 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 Greenville
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Greenville on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Sumter · lowest
53,071
Sumter · lowest
53,071 median HH income
36.9% of the leader · rank #1
Moscow Mills · near
68,451
Moscow Mills · near
68,451 median HH income
47.6% of the leader · rank #2
Greenville · this city
68,460
Greenville · this city
68,460 median HH income
47.6% of the leader · rank #3
Harveys Lake · near
68,462
Harveys Lake · near
68,462 median HH income
47.6% of the leader · rank #4
Ridge Wood He… · near
68,463
Ridge Wood He… · near
68,463 median HH income
47.6% of the leader · rank #5
Chemung · near
68,463
Chemung · near
68,463 median HH income
47.6% of the leader · rank #6
Centreville · highest
143,704
Centreville · highest
143,704 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 Greenville 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: 71,755.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Greenville - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Greenville places in the 48th percentile for household income and the 7th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
48th
percentile, household income
82nd
percentile, home value
46th
percentile, median rent
7th
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: Greenville, SC
71,755 people live in Greenville, South Carolina - a small city by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $68,460 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 8.9%. Home values in Greenville run a median of $453,300, and the median resident age is 34.8 years. Educational attainment runs 55.0% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 65.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 404 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 57% from five years earlier. Greenville's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: FBI UCR figures show 4112.8 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). NOAA climate normals record an annual average temperature of 59.6°F with 50.7 inches of precipitation per year.
Living costs in South Carolina run below the national norm: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, South Carolina scores 93.7 (Below Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. 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 17.2 minutes, with 74.4% driving alone and 13.7% 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 Greenville'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 within-city variation to climate and hazard context to population change to comparison shortlist to work and mobility to housing and income to reported crime to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Greenville, city-specific coverage includes within-city Census tract profiles, matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, commute-mode shares, annual population history.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
1. Within-city variation
What can 123 Census tracts reveal inside Greenville?
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.
PlainCities matches 123 Census tracts to this city.
What physical conditions frame life in Greenville?
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 59.6°F, with 50.7 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.
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.
Is Greenville growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
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.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +3,845 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +5.4% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 404 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Which cities make useful reference points for Greenville?
Within South Carolina, the closest population matches are Rock Hill (74,769 residents, $64,770 income); Summerville (51,262 residents, $78,621 income); Mount Pleasant (92,662 residents, $121,364 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Harlingen, TX (71,669 residents); Poinciana, FL (71,665 residents); Centreville, VA (71,885 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. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
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 Greenville?
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 74.4%. The reported mean trip to work is 17.2 minutes.
Public transit
0.7%
Work from home
13.7%
Drive alone
74.4%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 39,223 workers age 16+.
How far does income reach against housing in Greenville?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 6.6 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 8.9%, 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. 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.
Household income
$68,460
Home value
$453,300
Value / income
6.6×
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 Greenville?
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.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 4112.8 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 80% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
3468.4
Violent rate
644.4
Total reported rate
4112.8
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
What does the education layer cover for Greenville?
The NCES join finds 51 public schools within the city match. 55.0% 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.
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.
Matched public schools
51
Bachelor's degree+
55.0%
Poverty estimate
8.9%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Below median income · poverty 8.9% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
93.7 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, South Carolina average
D
City profile score · Greenville, SC
49/100
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.
Bachelor's+ share A
55.0%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
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.
Household income D
$68,460
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate D
8.9%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime F
644 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Greenville profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 88/100 (A) · 55.0%
Cost of living: 70/100 (B) · 93.7 index
Household income: 47/100 (D) · $68,460
Poverty rate: 44/100 (D) · 8.9%
Violent crime: 8/100 (F) · 644 /100k
Where Greenville sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Greenville'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 - Greenville highlighted among 10 peers.Read the chart values
Greenville, SC (this city): home $453,300, crime 4,113/100k
Harlingen, TX : home $125,700, crime 2,977/100k
Noblesville, IN : home $321,800, crime 622/100k
Marysville, WA : home $521,500, crime 2,187/100k
Rock Hill, SC : home $267,400, crime 2,789/100k
Summerville, SC : home $295,700, crime 1,991/100k
Mount Pleasant, SC : home $667,100, crime 1,300/100k
Goose Creek, SC : home $279,500, crime 1,722/100k
Sumter, SC : home $188,400, crime 4,804/100k
Florence, SC : home $189,800, crime 4,725/100k
How does Greenville compare to other US cities?
Here's how Greenville stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income48% higher than other cities
Home value82% pricier than other cities
Median rent46% pricier than other cities
Safety7% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just South Carolina and the picture shifts: Greenville ranks #83 of 127 South Carolina cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Greenville 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 Greenville near the bottom of South Carolina's cities
Among the 441 South Carolina cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Greenville ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Greenville only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#108 of 403
73rd percentile in South Carolina
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 441
0th percentile in South Carolina
Median Home Value
#26 of 404
94th percentile in South Carolina
Poverty Rate
#276 of 439
37th percentile in South Carolina
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#29 of 441
93rd 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
48th percentile nationally for median household income · 7th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Greenville's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Greenville'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 Greenville's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$453,30018th percentilemore affordable than 18% 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
Greenville's home-value-to-income ratio: 6.6×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#14,489 of 15,516
More affordable than 7% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#625 of 750
Mid-size cities (50,000–199,999)
At 6.6×, Greenville sits in the pressured band:
national rank #14,489 of 15,516 and #625 of 750mid-size cities (50,000–199,999).
Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median, a comparison flag, not a verdict on any household.
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
$68,460Greenville, SC median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Greenville, 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 Greenville, SC.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)55.0%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)8.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)65.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
71,755
Median Income
$68,460
Median Home Value
$453,300
Median Age
34.8
Poverty Rate
8.9%
Labor force participation
65.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
55.0%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
4112.8
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
644.4
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
3468.4
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
59.6°F
Annual Precipitation
50.7"
Annual Snowfall
N/A
Schools
Total Schools
51
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Greenville's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
71,465 residents
2021
72,748 residents
2022
72,972 residents
2023
73,675 residents
2024
74,948 residents
2025
75,310 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
404
housing units authorized
Single-Family
312
detached homes
Multifamily
92
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
5.6
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
933
273
660
$156.1M
2020
1,146
227
919
$159.1M
2021
363
323
40
$100.6M
2022
276
180
96
$62.6M
2023
639
257
382
$128.7M
2024
404
312
92
$125.4M
Permit volume decreased 57% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
17.2 minutes
Drive Alone
74.4%
Carpool
5.5%
Public Transit
0.7%
Walk
3.3%
Work from Home
13.7%
Other
2.4%
Based on 39,223 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 Greenville. 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 Greenville 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 Greenville sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Greenville 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.