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Place dossier plate
SheetSC-TRAVELERS-REST-SC · Travelers Rest, SC 8,137 pop · income 19th 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 Travelers Rest
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Travelers Rest on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Union · lowest
34,112
Union · lowest
34,112 median HH income
34.0% of the leader · rank #1
Booneville · near
49,653
Booneville · near
49,653 median HH income
49.5% of the leader · rank #2
Powderly · near
49,653
Powderly · near
49,653 median HH income
49.5% of the leader · rank #3
Lafayette · near
49,653
Lafayette · near
49,653 median HH income
49.5% of the leader · rank #4
Travelers Rest · this city
49,655
Travelers Rest · this city
49,655 median HH income
49.5% of the leader · rank #5
Lumberport · near
49,659
Lumberport · near
49,659 median HH income
49.5% of the leader · rank #6
Pomona · highest
100,382
Pomona · highest
100,382 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 Travelers Rest 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: 8,137.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Travelers Rest - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Travelers Rest lands in the 19th percentile for household income and the 19th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
19th
percentile, household income
62nd
percentile, home value
46th
percentile, median rent
19th
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: Travelers Rest, SC
Travelers Rest is a small town in South Carolina, home to 8,137 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $49,655 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 16.0%. Home values in Travelers Rest run a median of $281,400, and the median resident age is 21.9 years. 45.4% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 52.5% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 81 residential building permits were authorized in Travelers Rest (Stable), down 1% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Travelers Rest's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 2750.9 incidents per 100,000 residents, above the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects 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). 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. The average commute for Travelers Rest workers runs 19.3 minutes, with 61.8% driving alone and 10.8% working from home. 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 Travelers Rest'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 population change to work and mobility to comparison shortlist to reported crime to schools and households to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Travelers Rest, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, local building permits, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Population change
Is Travelers Rest 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 +1,314 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +16.8% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 81 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
What does the journey to work look like in Travelers Rest?
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 61.8%. The reported mean trip to work is 19.3 minutes.
Which cities make useful reference points for Travelers Rest?
Within South Carolina, the closest population matches are Sans Souci (8,199 residents, $46,276 income); Union (8,047 residents, $34,112 income); Camden (8,025 residents, $53,289 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Cleveland, TX (8,137 residents); Kalifornsky, AK (8,136 residents); Hillside, IL (8,133 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 Travelers Rest?
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 2750.9 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 21% 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.
Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Travelers Rest?
The NCES join finds 4 public schools within the city match. 45.4% 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.
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.
Matched public schools
4
Bachelor's degree+
45.4%
Poverty estimate
16.0%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
How far does income reach against housing in Travelers Rest?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 5.7 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 16.0%, 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.
Household income
$49,655
Home value
$281,400
Value / income
5.7×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, South Carolina average
D
City profile score · Travelers Rest, SC
43/100
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.
Bachelor's+ share A-
45.4%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
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 F
264 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Poverty rate F
16.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$49,655
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Travelers Rest profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 80/100 (A-) · 45.4%
Cost of living: 70/100 (B) · 93.7 index
Violent crime: 38/100 (F) · 264 /100k
Poverty rate: 21/100 (F) · 16.0%
Household income: 20/100 (F) · $49,655
Where Travelers Rest sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Travelers Rest'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 - Travelers Rest highlighted among 8 peers.Read the chart values
Travelers Rest, SC (this city): home $281,400, crime 2,751/100k
Cleveland, TX : home $153,200, crime 2,459/100k
Hillside, IL : home $233,800, crime 2,177/100k
Lochbuie, CO : home $373,800, crime 990/100k
Roxboro, NC : home $138,700, crime 4,517/100k
Union, SC : home $103,400, crime 7,531/100k
Camden, SC : home $241,300, crime 4,809/100k
Georgetown, SC : home $158,600, crime 4,454/100k
How does Travelers Rest compare to other US cities?
Here's how Travelers Rest stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income19% higher than other cities
Home value62% pricier than other cities
Median rent46% pricier than other cities
Safety19% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just South Carolina and the picture shifts: Travelers Rest ranks #55 of 127 South Carolina cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Travelers Rest 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 Travelers Rest near the bottom of South Carolina's cities
Among the 441 South Carolina cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Travelers Rest ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Travelers Rest only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#219 of 403
46th percentile in South Carolina
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 441
0th percentile in South Carolina
Median Home Value
#62 of 404
85th percentile in South Carolina
Poverty Rate
#180 of 439
58th percentile in South Carolina
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#43 of 441
90th 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
19th percentile nationally for median household income · 19th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Travelers Rest's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Travelers Rest'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 Travelers Rest's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$281,40038th percentilemore affordable than 38% 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
Travelers Rest's home-value-to-income ratio: 5.7×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#13,785 of 15,516
More affordable than 11% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#10,280 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 5.7×, Travelers Rest sits in the pressured band:
national rank #13,785 of 15,516 and #10,280 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median, a comparison flag, not a verdict on any household.
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
$49,655Travelers Rest, SC median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Travelers Rest, 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 Travelers Rest, SC.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)45.4%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)16.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)52.5%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
8,137
Median Income
$49,655
Median Home Value
$281,400
Median Age
21.9
Poverty Rate
16.0%
Labor force participation
52.5%
Bachelor's Degree+
45.4%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
2750.9
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
264.1
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
2486.8
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
Travelers Rest's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
7,821 residents
2021
7,883 residents
2022
8,481 residents
2023
8,768 residents
2024
8,993 residents
2025
9,135 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Stable
Total Permits (2024)
81
housing units authorized
Single-Family
81
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
10
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
82
82
0
$21.4M
2020
60
60
0
$16.2M
2021
307
67
240
$38.6M
2022
127
14
113
$32.7M
2023
93
55
38
$29.5M
2024
81
81
0
$27.0M
Permit volume decreased 1% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
19.3 minutes
Drive Alone
61.8%
Carpool
11.9%
Public Transit
1.6%
Walk
11.9%
Work from Home
10.8%
Other
2.0%
Based on 3,301 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 Travelers Rest. 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 Travelers Rest 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 Travelers Rest sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Travelers Rest 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.