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Place dossier plate
SheetSC-WALTERBORO-SC · Walterboro, SC 5,490 pop · income 17th pct · 14 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 Walterboro
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Walterboro on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Chester · lowest
41,231
Chester · lowest
41,231 median HH income
39.1% of the leader · rank #1
Geneva · near
48,357
Geneva · near
48,357 median HH income
45.8% of the leader · rank #2
Milton · near
48,365
Milton · near
48,365 median HH income
45.8% of the leader · rank #3
Walterboro · this city
48,366
Walterboro · this city
48,366 median HH income
45.8% of the leader · rank #4
Shepherd · near
48,368
Shepherd · near
48,368 median HH income
45.8% of the leader · rank #5
Windsor · near
48,371
Windsor · near
48,371 median HH income
45.8% of the leader · rank #6
Blythewood · highest
105,583
Blythewood · highest
105,583 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 Walterboro 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: 5,490.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Walterboro - the verdict
Nationally, Walterboro sits in the 17th percentile for household income and the 2nd percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
17th
percentile, household income
34th
percentile, home value
46th
percentile, median rent
2nd
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: Walterboro, SC
South Carolina's Walterboro is a small town, with 5,490 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Median household income here is $48,366 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 30.6%. Home values in Walterboro run a median of $170,500, and the median resident age is 40.5 years. About 19.8% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 54.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 11 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Building Boom), up 175% from five years earlier. Walterboro's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 6386.1 incidents per 100,000 residents, above the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). NOAA puts Walterboro's yearly average temperature at 64.1°F with 51.4 inches of precipitation per year.
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). The average commute for Walterboro workers runs 31.4 minutes, with 77.4% driving alone and 10.1% 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 Walterboro'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 housing and income to work and mobility to comparison shortlist to schools and households to reported crime to within-city variation to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Walterboro, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles, commute-mode shares.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
What physical conditions frame life in Walterboro?
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 64.1°F, with 51.4 inches of precipitation. 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Walterboro?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.5 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 30.6%, 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Walterboro?
Within South Carolina, the closest population matches are Belvedere (5,458 residents, $57,933 income); Laurel Bay (5,627 residents, $52,094 income); Hollywood (5,330 residents, $77,415 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Quantico Base, VA (5,491 residents); Columbus, WI (5,493 residents); Luling, TX (5,486 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 14 Census tracts reveal inside Walterboro?
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 14 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.
Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Walterboro?
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 77.4%. The reported mean trip to work is 31.4 minutes.
Public transit
0.0%
Work from home
10.1%
Drive alone
77.4%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 2,484 workers age 16+.
What does the education layer cover for Walterboro?
The NCES join finds 6 public schools within the city match. 19.8% 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
6
Bachelor's degree+
19.8%
Poverty estimate
30.6%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Walterboro?
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 6386.1 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 180% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
5379.7
Violent rate
1006.4
Total reported rate
6386.1
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
Is Walterboro growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
The recent population line is broadly flat. That makes the composition of change more important than the headline count: housing turnover, household size, and age structure can shift even when the total barely moves.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -10 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -0.2% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 11 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
-0.2%
2025 estimate
5,485
2020 estimate
5,495
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Low income · poverty 30.6% (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 · Walterboro, SC
24/100
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 F
19.8%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$48,366
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
30.6%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime F
1,006 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Walterboro profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 70/100 (B) · 93.7 index
Bachelor's+ share: 34/100 (F) · 19.8%
Household income: 18/100 (F) · $48,366
Poverty rate: 0/100 (F) · 30.6%
Violent crime: 0/100 (F) · 1,006 /100k
Where Walterboro sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Walterboro'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 - Walterboro highlighted among 26 peers.Read the chart values
Walterboro, SC (this city): home $170,500, crime 6,386/100k
Columbus, WI : home $225,700, crime 535/100k
Luling, TX : home $212,500, crime 1,479/100k
Osceola, IA : home $145,300, crime 2,208/100k
Central, SC : home $228,500, crime 1,311/100k
Chester, SC : home $106,400, crime 4,835/100k
New York, NY : home $751,700, crime 3,039/100k
Los Angeles, CA : home $879,500, crime 2,212/100k
Chicago, IL : home $315,200, crime 4,012/100k
Houston, TX : home $253,400, crime 5,442/100k
Phoenix, AZ : home $381,900, crime 3,125/100k
Philadelphia, PA : home $232,400, crime 5,457/100k
San Antonio, TX : home $219,700, crime 5,218/100k
San Diego, CA : home $848,500, crime 2,082/100k
Dallas, TX : home $295,300, crime 4,010/100k
San Jose, CA : home $1,187,800, crime 3,195/100k
Austin, TX : home $512,700, crime 3,709/100k
Fort Worth, TX : home $277,300, crime 3,158/100k
Columbus, OH : home $234,500, crime 3,088/100k
Indianapolis, IN : home $207,000, crime 4,214/100k
San Francisco, CA : home $1,380,500, crime 4,526/100k
Seattle, WA : home $912,100, crime 5,783/100k
Denver, CO : home $586,700, crime 5,755/100k
Oklahoma City, OK : home $215,100, crime 3,570/100k
El Paso, TX : home $171,700, crime 1,772/100k
Washington, DC : home $724,600, crime 4,514/100k
How does Walterboro compare to other US cities?
Where Walterboro sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income17% higher than other cities
Home value34% pricier than other cities
Median rent46% pricier than other cities
Safety2% 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: Walterboro ranks #110 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 Walterboro 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 Walterboro near the bottom of South Carolina's cities
Among the 441 South Carolina cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Walterboro ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Walterboro only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#226 of 403
44th percentile in South Carolina
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 441
0th percentile in South Carolina
Median Home Value
#175 of 404
57th percentile in South Carolina
Poverty Rate
#54 of 439
88th percentile in South Carolina
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#198 of 441
55th 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
17th percentile nationally for median household income · 2nd percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Walterboro's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Walterboro'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 Walterboro's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$170,500Among the most affordablemore affordable than 66% 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
Walterboro's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.5×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#9,070 of 15,516
More affordable than 42% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#7,307 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.5×, Walterboro sits in the moderate band:
national rank #9,070 of 15,516 and #7,307 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
$48,366Walterboro, SC median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Walterboro, 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 Walterboro, SC.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)19.8%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)30.6%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)54.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
5,490
Median Income
$48,366
Median Home Value
$170,500
Median Age
40.5
Poverty Rate
30.6%
Labor force participation
54.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
19.8%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
6386.1
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
1006.4
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
5379.7
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
64.1°F
Annual Precipitation
51.4"
Annual Snowfall
0.0"
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
Walterboro's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
5,495 residents
2021
5,467 residents
2022
5,448 residents
2023
5,499 residents
2024
5,509 residents
2025
5,485 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
11
housing units authorized
Single-Family
5
detached homes
Multifamily
6
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
2
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
4
4
0
$0.6M
2020
8
4
4
$1.1M
2021
3
3
0
$0.5M
2022
6
6
0
$1.1M
2023
4
4
0
$0.9M
2024
11
5
6
$2.1M
Permit volume increased 175% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
31.4 minutes
Drive Alone
77.4%
Carpool
10.0%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
10.1%
Other
2.5%
Based on 2,484 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 Walterboro. 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 Walterboro 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 Walterboro sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Walterboro 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 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.