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Place dossier plate
SheetSC-RIDGEWAY-SC · Ridgeway, SC 240 pop · income 15th 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 Ridgeway
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Ridgeway on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Floydale · lowest
19,628
Floydale · lowest
19,628 median HH income
18.3% of the leader · rank #1
Ridgeway · this city
47,143
Ridgeway · this city
47,143 median HH income
43.9% of the leader · rank #2
Larrabee · near
47,143
Larrabee · near
47,143 median HH income
43.9% of the leader · rank #3
Mason · near
47,143
Mason · near
47,143 median HH income
43.9% of the leader · rank #4
Northfork · near
47,143
Northfork · near
47,143 median HH income
43.9% of the leader · rank #5
Jacksonville · near
47,146
Jacksonville · near
47,146 median HH income
43.9% of the leader · rank #6
Windsor · highest
107,500
Windsor · highest
107,500 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
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Ridgeway 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: 240.
Nationally, Ridgeway sits in the 15th percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
15th
percentile, household income
39th
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: Ridgeway, SC
240 people live in Ridgeway, South Carolina - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Ridgeway households earn a median of $47,143 annually, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 32.9%. Typical homes in Ridgeway are valued around $187,500, and the median resident age is 50.8 years. Educational attainment runs 23.4% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 66.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The city is served by 1 public schools according to NCES Common Core of Data.
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. 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). 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 Ridgeway'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 population change to work and mobility to housing and income to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Ridgeway, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, annual population history, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Comparison shortlist
Which cities make useful reference points for Ridgeway?
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.
Within South Carolina, the closest population matches are Fingerville (238 residents); Lydia (237 residents, $22,275 income); Windsor (243 residents, $107,500 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Mitchellville, AR (240 residents); Sunshine, CO (240 residents); Hazleton, IN (240 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.
Is Ridgeway growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -12 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -4.5% 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.
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.
What does the journey to work look like in Ridgeway?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 87.8%. 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Ridgeway?
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.
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 4.0 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 32.9%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
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 Ridgeway?
The matched institution count is small, so district boundaries and schools outside the city line may matter more than the municipal count suggests. Use the number as a coverage cue, then verify attendance zones with the district before making a household decision.
The NCES join finds 1 public school within the city match. 23.4% 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
32.9%
Bachelor's degree+
23.4%
Matched public schools
1
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Low income · poverty 32.9% (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 · Ridgeway, SC
31/100
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.
Bachelor's+ share D
23.4%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$47,143
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
32.9%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Ridgeway profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 70/100 (B) · 93.7 index
Bachelor's+ share: 44/100 (D) · 23.4%
Household income: 16/100 (F) · $47,143
Poverty rate: 0/100 (F) · 32.9%
How does Ridgeway compare to other US cities?
Where Ridgeway sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income15% higher than other cities
Home value39% 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 Ridgeway 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 Ridgeway near the bottom of South Carolina's cities
Among the 441 South Carolina cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Ridgeway ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Ridgeway only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#240 of 403
40th percentile in South Carolina
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 441
0th percentile in South Carolina
Median Home Value
#153 of 404
62nd percentile in South Carolina
Poverty Rate
#43 of 439
90th percentile in South Carolina
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#155 of 441
65th 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
15th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Ridgeway's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$187,500Among the most affordablemore affordable than 61% 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
Ridgeway's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.0×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#10,642 of 15,516
More affordable than 31% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#8,327 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 4.0×, Ridgeway sits in the moderate band:
national rank #10,642 of 15,516 and #8,327 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
$47,143Ridgeway, SC median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Ridgeway, 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 Ridgeway, SC.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)23.4%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)32.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)66.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
240
Median Income
$47,143
Median Home Value
$187,500
Median Age
50.8
Poverty Rate
32.9%
Labor force participation
66.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
23.4%
Schools
Total Schools
1
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Ridgeway's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
266 residents
2021
263 residents
2022
258 residents
2023
259 residents
2024
259 residents
2025
254 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
87.8%
Carpool
5.0%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
7.2%
Based on 139 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 Ridgeway. 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 Ridgeway 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 Ridgeway sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Ridgeway 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, 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.