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Place dossier plate
SheetSC-SENECA-SC · Seneca, SC 8,910 pop · income 23rd pct · 20 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 Seneca
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Seneca on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Lancaster · lowest
43,234
Lancaster · lowest
43,234 median HH income
35.4% of the leader · rank #1
Peck · near
52,204
Peck · near
52,204 median HH income
42.8% of the leader · rank #2
Seneca · this city
52,207
Seneca · this city
52,207 median HH income
42.8% of the leader · rank #3
Pinetop-Lakes… · near
52,207
Pinetop-Lakes… · near
52,207 median HH income
42.8% of the leader · rank #4
Montpelier · near
52,212
Montpelier · near
52,212 median HH income
42.8% of the leader · rank #5
Buckley · near
52,212
Buckley · near
52,212 median HH income
42.8% of the leader · rank #6
Skidaway Isla… · highest
121,991
Skidaway Isla… · highest
121,991 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 Seneca 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: 8,910.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Seneca - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Seneca lands in the 23rd percentile for household income and the 25th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
23rd
percentile, household income
49th
percentile, home value
46th
percentile, median rent
25th
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: Seneca, SC
South Carolina's Seneca is a small town, with 8,910 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Households in Seneca report a median income of $52,207 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 17.1%. Home values in Seneca run a median of $223,100, and the median resident age is 39.9 years. 29.2% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 54.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 118 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Building Boom), up 131% from five years earlier. Crime here tracks close to the national norm: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 2339.1 total incidents per 100,000 residents here, near 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: the state registers 93.7 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Below Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,155 monthly. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in South Carolina run around $224, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. 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 Seneca'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 schools and households to comparison shortlist to housing and income to reported crime to population change to within-city variation to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Seneca, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits, annual population history, matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
What does the education layer cover for Seneca?
The NCES join finds 6 public schools within the city match. 29.2% 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 Seneca?
Within South Carolina, the closest population matches are Lancaster (8,738 residents, $43,234 income); York (8,697 residents, $47,315 income); Hardeeville (9,293 residents, $78,233 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Evergreen, MT (8,908 residents); Northwest Harborcreek, PA (8,908 residents); Skidaway Island, GA (8,907 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Seneca?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 4.3 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 17.1%, 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.
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 20 Census tracts to this city.
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.
Reported crime
What can the FBI record say about safety in Seneca?
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 2339.1 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, near the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 3% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
1724.1
Violent rate
615.0
Total reported rate
2339.1
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
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 +573 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +6.5% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 118 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Period change
+6.5%
2025 estimate
9,424
2020 estimate
8,851
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
What does the journey to work look like in Seneca?
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 80.3%. 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
3.6%
Drive alone
80.3%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 4,101 workers age 16+.
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, South Carolina average
F
City profile score · Seneca, SC
34/100
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 C
29.2%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$52,207
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
17.1%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime F
615 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Seneca profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 70/100 (B) · 93.7 index
Bachelor's+ share: 57/100 (C) · 29.2%
Household income: 23/100 (F) · $52,207
Poverty rate: 19/100 (F) · 17.1%
Violent crime: 9/100 (F) · 615 /100k
Where Seneca sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Seneca'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 - Seneca highlighted among 8 peers.Read the chart values
Seneca, SC (this city): home $223,100, crime 2,339/100k
Plymouth, WI : home $194,900, crime 1,057/100k
Poteau, OK : home $142,400, crime 3,231/100k
Lancaster, SC : home $226,300, crime 7,243/100k
York, SC : home $161,000, crime 3,790/100k
Hardeeville, SC : home $467,500, crime 1,667/100k
Laurens, SC : home $139,800, crime 3,930/100k
Georgetown, SC : home $158,600, crime 4,454/100k
How does Seneca compare to other US cities?
Where Seneca sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income23% higher than other cities
Home value49% pricier than other cities
Median rent46% pricier than other cities
Safety25% 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, Seneca ranks #47 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 Seneca 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 Seneca near the bottom of South Carolina's cities
Among the 441 South Carolina cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Seneca ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Seneca only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#196 of 403
51st percentile in South Carolina
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 441
0th percentile in South Carolina
Median Home Value
#108 of 404
73rd percentile in South Carolina
Poverty Rate
#161 of 439
63rd percentile in South Carolina
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#110 of 441
75th 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
23rd percentile nationally for median household income · 25th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Seneca's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Seneca'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 Seneca's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$223,100Among the most affordablemore affordable than 51% 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
Seneca's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.3×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#11,454 of 15,516
More affordable than 26% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#8,842 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 4.3×, Seneca sits in the moderate band:
national rank #11,454 of 15,516 and #8,842 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
$52,207Seneca, SC median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Seneca, 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 Seneca, SC.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)29.2%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)17.1%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)54.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
8,910
Median Income
$52,207
Median Home Value
$223,100
Median Age
39.9
Poverty Rate
17.1%
Labor force participation
54.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
29.2%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
2339.1
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
615.0
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1724.1
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
6
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Seneca's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
8,851 residents
2021
8,922 residents
2022
8,995 residents
2023
9,098 residents
2024
9,217 residents
2025
9,424 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
118
housing units authorized
Single-Family
78
detached homes
Multifamily
40
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
13.2
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
51
51
0
$15.1M
2020
56
56
0
$16.6M
2021
68
68
0
$20.1M
2022
71
71
0
$21.0M
2023
79
79
0
$33.7M
2024
118
78
40
$36.5M
Permit volume increased 131% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
80.3%
Carpool
14.0%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
1.7%
Work from Home
3.6%
Based on 4,101 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 Seneca. 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 Seneca 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 Seneca sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Seneca 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 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.