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Place dossier plate
SheetSC-PICKENS-SC · Pickens, SC 3,386 pop · income 33rd 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 Pickens
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Pickens on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Winnsboro · lowest
35,649
Winnsboro · lowest
35,649 median HH income
28.4% of the leader · rank #1
El Paso · near
58,529
El Paso · near
58,529 median HH income
46.7% of the leader · rank #2
Edenborn · near
58,531
Edenborn · near
58,531 median HH income
46.7% of the leader · rank #3
Shelbyville · near
58,532
Shelbyville · near
58,532 median HH income
46.7% of the leader · rank #4
Nashwauk · near
58,533
Nashwauk · near
58,533 median HH income
46.7% of the leader · rank #5
Pickens · this city
58,534
Pickens · this city
58,534 median HH income
46.7% of the leader · rank #6
Emerald Mount… · highest
125,341
Emerald Mount… · highest
125,341 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 Pickens 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: 3,386.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Pickens - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Pickens lands in the 33rd percentile for household income and the 12th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
33rd
percentile, household income
42nd
percentile, home value
46th
percentile, median rent
12th
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: Pickens, SC
3,386 people live in Pickens, South Carolina - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Pickens brings in $58,534 a year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 9.5%. Typical homes in Pickens are valued around $196,400, and the median resident age is 38.4 years. 14.0% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 51.7% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Pickens's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: per-100,000 total crime stands at 3364.8 in FBI UCR data, above the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). NOAA climate normals record an annual average temperature of 60.6°F with 56.7 inches of precipitation per year and 1.0 inches of snowfall.
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. 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). 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 Pickens'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 schools and households to comparison shortlist to reported crime to population change to housing and income to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Pickens, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, matched public-school count, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates.
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.
Question 1
What physical conditions frame life in Pickens?
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 60.6°F, with 56.7 inches of precipitation and 1.0 inches of annual snowfall. 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.
The NCES join finds 6 public schools within the city match. 14.0% 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Pickens?
Within South Carolina, the closest population matches are Wellford (3,432 residents, $55,871 income); Liberty (3,337 residents, $42,077 income); Winnsboro (3,332 residents, $35,649 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Winnsboro, TX (3,386 residents); Emerald Mountain, AL (3,387 residents); Peralta, NM (3,385 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.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Pickens?
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 3364.8 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 48% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
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 Pickens 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 +43 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +1.4% 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.
Period change
+1.4%
2025 estimate
3,188
2020 estimate
3,145
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
How far does income reach against housing in Pickens?
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 9.5%, 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.
Household income
$58,534
Home value
$196,400
Value / income
3.4×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What does the journey to work look like in Pickens?
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.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 88.6%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Public transit
0.0%
Work from home
0.0%
Drive alone
88.6%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 1,315 workers age 16+.
Below median income · poverty 9.5% (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 · Pickens, SC
40/100
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.
Poverty rate D
9.5%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime F
295 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Household income F
$58,534
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
14.0%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Pickens profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 70/100 (B) · 93.7 index
Poverty rate: 42/100 (D) · 9.5%
Violent crime: 34/100 (F) · 295 /100k
Household income: 32/100 (F) · $58,534
Bachelor's+ share: 17/100 (F) · 14.0%
Where Pickens sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Pickens'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 - Pickens highlighted among 8 peers.Read the chart values
Pickens, SC (this city): home $196,400, crime 3,365/100k
Peralta, NM : home $275,000, crime 869/100k
Holton, KS : home $143,400, crime 1,688/100k
Dewey, OK : home $117,600, crime 1,807/100k
Oliver Springs, TN : home $149,600, crime 1,574/100k
Wellford, SC : home $217,700, crime 1,021/100k
Liberty, SC : home $162,800, crime 1,459/100k
Pendleton, SC : home $236,900, crime 1,886/100k
How does Pickens compare to other US cities?
Pickens measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income33% higher than other cities
Home value42% pricier than other cities
Median rent46% pricier than other cities
Safety12% 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, Pickens ranks #67 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 Pickens 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 Pickens near the bottom of South Carolina's cities
Among the 441 South Carolina cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Pickens ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Pickens only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#148 of 403
63rd percentile in South Carolina
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 441
0th percentile in South Carolina
Median Home Value
#133 of 404
67th percentile in South Carolina
Poverty Rate
#266 of 439
38th percentile in South Carolina
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#298 of 441
32nd 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
33rd percentile nationally for median household income · 12th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Pickens's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Pickens'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 Pickens's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$196,400Among the most affordablemore affordable than 58% 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
Pickens'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
#8,362 of 15,516
More affordable than 46% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#6,815 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.4×, Pickens sits in the moderate band:
national rank #8,362 of 15,516 and #6,815 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
$58,534Pickens, SC median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Pickens, 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 Pickens, SC.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)14.0%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)9.5%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)51.7%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
3,386
Median Income
$58,534
Median Home Value
$196,400
Median Age
38.4
Poverty Rate
9.5%
Labor force participation
51.7%
Bachelor's Degree+
14.0%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
3364.8
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
295.2
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
3069.7
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
60.6°F
Annual Precipitation
56.7"
Annual Snowfall
1.0"
Schools
Total Schools
6
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Pickens's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
3,145 residents
2021
3,144 residents
2022
3,146 residents
2023
3,158 residents
2024
3,169 residents
2025
3,188 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
88.6%
Carpool
10.7%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.7%
Work from Home
0.0%
Based on 1,315 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 Pickens. 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 Pickens 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 Pickens sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Pickens 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 ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.