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Place dossier plate
SheetSC-KINGSTREE-SC · Kingstree, SC 3,161 pop · income 2nd pct · 12 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 Kingstree
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Kingstree on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
East Gaffney · lowest
26,314
East Gaffney · lowest
26,314 median HH income
21.8% of the leader · rank #1
Mekoryuk · near
28,750
Mekoryuk · near
28,750 median HH income
23.8% of the leader · rank #2
De Valls Bluff · near
28,750
De Valls Bluff · near
28,750 median HH income
23.8% of the leader · rank #3
West Danby · near
28,766
West Danby · near
28,766 median HH income
23.8% of the leader · rank #4
Kingstree · this city
28,776
Kingstree · this city
28,776 median HH income
23.8% of the leader · rank #5
Lambert · near
28,793
Lambert · near
28,793 median HH income
23.8% of the leader · rank #6
East Hampton · highest
120,875
East Hampton · highest
120,875 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 Kingstree 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: 3,161.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Kingstree - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Kingstree places in the 2nd percentile for household income and the 1st percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
2nd
percentile, household income
20th
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: Kingstree, SC
Kingstree is a small town in South Carolina, home to 3,161 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $28,776 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 26.6%. Home values in Kingstree run a median of $127,300, and the median resident age is 41.5 years. About 21.3% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 36.2% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 0 residential units authorized here in 2024 (No Permits). Kingstree's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: FBI UCR figures show 8771.9 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 63.8°F.
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 Kingstree'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 climate and hazard context to reported crime to population change to work and mobility to housing and income to schools and households to within-city variation to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Kingstree, city-specific coverage includes FBI reported-crime rates, commute-mode shares, annual population history, local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles, matched public-school count.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
1. Climate and hazard context
What physical conditions frame life in Kingstree?
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 63.8°F. 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.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Kingstree?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 8771.9 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 285% 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.
What can 12 Census tracts reveal inside Kingstree?
PlainCities matches 12 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Kingstree?
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 Lakewood (3,154 residents, $49,255 income); East Gaffney (3,169 residents, $26,314 income); Denmark (3,141 residents, $33,100 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Holiday Shores, IL (3,162 residents); Monroe City, MO (3,162 residents); Fort Edward, NY (3,160 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.
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 Kingstree growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -208 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -6.4% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 0 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
3,230
2025 estimate
3,022
Period change
-6.4%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
What does the journey to work look like in Kingstree?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 64.5%. 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
64.5%
Work from home
13.0%
Public transit
6.7%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 908 workers age 16+.
How far does income reach against housing in Kingstree?
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 4.4 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 26.6%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
4.4×
Home value
$127,300
Household income
$28,776
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What does the education layer cover for Kingstree?
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. 21.3% 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.
Poverty estimate
26.6%
Bachelor's degree+
21.3%
Matched public schools
4
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 26.6% (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 · Kingstree, SC
21/100
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
21.3%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
26.6%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$28,776
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime F
1,192 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Kingstree profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 70/100 (B) · 93.7 index
Bachelor's+ share: 38/100 (F) · 21.3%
Poverty rate: 4/100 (F) · 26.6%
Household income: 0/100 (F) · $28,776
Violent crime: 0/100 (F) · 1,192 /100k
Where Kingstree sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Kingstree'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 - Kingstree highlighted among 24 peers.Read the chart values
Kingstree, SC (this city): home $127,300, crime 8,772/100k
Raymond, WA : home $214,800, crime 703/100k
East Hampton, CT : home $315,900, crime 443/100k
Denmark, SC : home $73,000, crime 3,542/100k
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 Kingstree compare to other US cities?
Here's how Kingstree stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income2% higher than other cities
Home value20% 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, Kingstree ranks #125 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 Kingstree 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 Kingstree near the bottom of South Carolina's cities
Among the 441 South Carolina cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Kingstree ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Kingstree only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#378 of 403
6th percentile in South Carolina
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 441
0th percentile in South Carolina
Median Home Value
#243 of 404
40th percentile in South Carolina
Poverty Rate
#78 of 439
82nd percentile in South Carolina
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#180 of 441
59th 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.
Kingstree's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Kingstree'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 Kingstree's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$127,300Among the most affordablemore affordable than 80% 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
Kingstree's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.4×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#11,825 of 15,516
More affordable than 24% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#9,082 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 4.4×, Kingstree sits in the moderate band:
national rank #11,825 of 15,516 and #9,082 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
$28,776Kingstree, SC median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Kingstree, 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 Kingstree, SC.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)21.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)26.6%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)36.2%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
3,161
Median Income
$28,776
Median Home Value
$127,300
Median Age
41.5
Poverty Rate
26.6%
Labor force participation
36.2%
Bachelor's Degree+
21.3%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
8771.9
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
1191.7
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
7580.3
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
63.8°F
Annual Precipitation
N/A
Annual Snowfall
N/A
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
Kingstree's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
3,230 residents
2021
3,168 residents
2022
3,123 residents
2023
3,090 residents
2024
3,056 residents
2025
3,022 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
Total Permits (2024)
0
housing units authorized
Single-Family
0
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
0
0
0
-
2020
3
3
0
$0.4M
2021
2
2
0
$0.3M
2022
0
0
0
-
2023
2
2
0
$0.6M
2024
0
0
0
-
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
64.5%
Carpool
12.7%
Public Transit
6.7%
Walk
3.1%
Work from Home
13.0%
Based on 908 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 Kingstree. 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 Kingstree 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 Kingstree sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Kingstree 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.