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Place dossier plate
SheetSC-NINETY-SIX-SC · Ninety Six, SC 2,635 pop · income 25th 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 Ninety Six
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Ninety Six on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Allendale · lowest
25,250
Allendale · lowest
25,250 median HH income
20.6% of the leader · rank #1
Ninety Six · this city
53,438
Ninety Six · this city
53,438 median HH income
43.5% of the leader · rank #2
Elgin · near
53,438
Elgin · near
53,438 median HH income
43.5% of the leader · rank #3
South Jackson… · near
53,438
South Jackson… · near
53,438 median HH income
43.5% of the leader · rank #4
Williamson · near
53,438
Williamson · near
53,438 median HH income
43.5% of the leader · rank #5
Clements · near
53,438
Clements · near
53,438 median HH income
43.5% of the leader · rank #6
Palmer Lake · highest
122,855
Palmer Lake · highest
122,855 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 Ninety Six 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: 2,635.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Ninety Six - the verdict
Nationally, Ninety Six sits in the 25th percentile for household income and the 59th percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
25th
percentile, household income
15th
percentile, home value
46th
percentile, median rent
59th
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: Ninety Six, SC
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 2,635 residents in Ninety Six, a small town within South Carolina. Median household income here is $53,438 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 18.8%. Home values in Ninety Six run a median of $114,000, and the median resident age is 38.3 years. 21.8% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 55.4% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Ninety Six reports a comparatively low crime rate: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 1118.1 total incidents per 100,000 residents here, below the national average (agency reporting is voluntary, so this measures reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
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. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts South Carolina's average monthly utility costs around $224 (state average). 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 Ninety Six'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 housing and income to population change to reported crime to schools and households to comparison shortlist to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Ninety Six, city-specific coverage includes FBI reported-crime rates, commute-mode shares, annual population history, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Ninety Six?
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. The ratio makes housing the clearest place to start this profile, but a low multiple can coexist with slow demand, older stock, or household-level hardship. Compare the home-value distribution and same-state peer table before treating it as an advantage.
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 2.1 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 18.8%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Is Ninety Six growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +13 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +0.6% 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.
The recent population line is broadly flat. That makes the composition of change more important than the headline count: housing turnover, household size, and age structure can shift even when the total barely moves.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Ninety Six?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1118.1 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 51% lower 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Ninety Six?
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 New Ellenton (2,604 residents, $60,625 income); Allendale (2,595 residents, $25,250 income); Ravenel (2,594 residents, $72,365 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Palmer Lake, CO (2,635 residents); Oakland City, IN (2,635 residents); Bawcomville, LA (2,635 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.
Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Ninety Six?
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. 21.8% 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
18.8%
Bachelor's degree+
21.8%
Matched public schools
4
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What does the journey to work look like in Ninety Six?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 93.0%. 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. The profile is strongly car-oriented, so a relocation comparison should put trip distance, vehicle access, and household fuel costs ahead of a citywide commute average. The same-state peer links offer a more relevant benchmark than a national label.
Drive alone
93.0%
Work from home
0.9%
Public transit
0.0%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 1,040 workers age 16+.
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, South Carolina average
F
City profile score · Ninety Six, SC
38/100
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.
Violent crime D
243 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share D
21.8%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$53,438
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
18.8%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Ninety Six profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 70/100 (B) · 93.7 index
Violent crime: 41/100 (D) · 243 /100k
Bachelor's+ share: 40/100 (D) · 21.8%
Household income: 25/100 (F) · $53,438
Poverty rate: 16/100 (F) · 18.8%
Where Ninety Six sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Ninety Six'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 - Ninety Six highlighted among 9 peers.Read the chart values
Ninety Six, SC (this city): home $114,000, crime 1,118/100k
Palmer Lake, CO : home $454,000, crime 1,054/100k
Healdton, OK : home $58,800, crime 977/100k
Lineville, AL : home $146,300, crime 402/100k
New Ellenton, SC : home $164,900, crime 1,740/100k
Allendale, SC : home $65,300, crime 7,161/100k
McCormick, SC : home $88,400, crime 2,408/100k
Hampton, SC : home $179,700, crime 3,335/100k
Loris, SC : home $195,600, crime 3,402/100k
How does Ninety Six compare to other US cities?
Here's how Ninety Six stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income25% higher than other cities
Home value15% pricier than other cities
Median rent46% pricier than other cities
Safety59% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
A national percentile can hide a lot of local variation: narrowed to South Carolina alone, Ninety Six ranks #13 of 127 South Carolina cities by lowest crime rate - a different, more locally useful comparison than stacking it against the entire country.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Ninety Six 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 Ninety Six near the bottom of South Carolina's cities
Among the 441 South Carolina cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Ninety Six ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Ninety Six only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#185 of 403
54th percentile in South Carolina
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 441
0th percentile in South Carolina
Median Home Value
#269 of 404
33rd percentile in South Carolina
Poverty Rate
#145 of 439
67th percentile in South Carolina
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#169 of 441
61st 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
25th percentile nationally for median household income · 59th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Ninety Six's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Ninety Six'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 Ninety Six's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$114,000Among 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
Ninety Six's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.1×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#2,150 of 15,516
More affordable than 86% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,034 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.1×, Ninety Six sits in the affordable band:
national rank #2,150 of 15,516 and #2,034 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
The multiple is comparatively compact among tracked cities, but a low ratio can still coexist with slow demand or household-level hardship.
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
$53,438Ninety Six, SC median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Ninety Six, 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 Ninety Six, SC.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)21.8%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)18.8%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)55.4%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
2,635
Median Income
$53,438
Median Home Value
$114,000
Median Age
38.3
Poverty Rate
18.8%
Labor force participation
55.4%
Bachelor's Degree+
21.8%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1118.1
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
243.1
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
875.1
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.
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
Ninety Six's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
2,076 residents
2021
2,067 residents
2022
2,068 residents
2023
2,076 residents
2024
2,089 residents
2025
2,089 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
93.0%
Carpool
5.2%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
0.9%
Other
0.9%
Based on 1,040 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 Ninety Six. 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 Ninety Six 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 Ninety Six sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Ninety Six 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, NCES CCD, 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.