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Place dossier plate
SheetSC-UNITY-SC · Unity, SC 655 pop · income 6th 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 Unity
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Unity on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Lake View · lowest
31,033
Lake View · lowest
31,033 median HH income
20.2% of the leader · rank #1
Jerome · near
37,031
Jerome · near
37,031 median HH income
24.1% of the leader · rank #2
New Canton · near
37,031
New Canton · near
37,031 median HH income
24.1% of the leader · rank #3
Ralston · near
37,035
Ralston · near
37,035 median HH income
24.1% of the leader · rank #4
Unity · this city
37,037
Unity · this city
37,037 median HH income
24.1% of the leader · rank #5
Morgantown · near
37,037
Morgantown · near
37,037 median HH income
24.1% of the leader · rank #6
Daufuskie Isl… · highest
153,821
Daufuskie Isl… · highest
153,821 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 Unity 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: 655.
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Unity lands in the 6th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
6th
percentile, household income
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: Unity, SC
655 people live in Unity, South Carolina - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Unity brings in $37,037 a year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 49.4%. The median resident age is 40.5 years. Educational attainment runs 3.3% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 37.3% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
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. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in South Carolina run around $224, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 70.7 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (High).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Unity'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 work and mobility to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Unity, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Unity?
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 83.8%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Which cities make useful reference points for Unity?
Within South Carolina, the closest population matches are Harleyville (653 residents, $60,231 income); Lake View (661 residents, $31,033 income); Cash (645 residents). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Elsah, IL (655 residents); Reynolds, IN (655 residents); Brighton, IA (655 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.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 49.4% (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 · Unity, SC
18/100
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.
Household income F
$37,037
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
49.4%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
3.3%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Unity profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 70/100 (B) · 93.7 index
Household income: 3/100 (F) · $37,037
Poverty rate: 0/100 (F) · 49.4%
Bachelor's+ share: 0/100 (F) · 3.3%
How does Unity compare to other US cities?
Here's how Unity stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income6% higher 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 Unity 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 Unity near the bottom of South Carolina's cities
Among the 441 South Carolina cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Unity ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Unity only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#322 of 403
20th percentile in South Carolina
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 441
0th percentile in South Carolina
Poverty Rate
#12 of 439
97th percentile in South Carolina
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#416 of 441
6th 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
6th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Income distribution context
$37,037Unity, SC median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Unity, 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 Unity, SC.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)3.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)49.4%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)37.3%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
655
Median Income
$37,037
Median Home Value
N/A
Median Age
40.5
Poverty Rate
49.4%
Labor force participation
37.3%
Bachelor's Degree+
3.3%
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
83.8%
Carpool
0.0%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
4.0%
Other
12.2%
Based on 198 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 Unity. 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 Unity 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 Unity sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Unity 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, 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.