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Place dossier plate
SheetSC-WARE-SHOALS-SC · Ware Shoals, SC 2,207 pop · income 5th 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 Ware Shoals
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Ware Shoals on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Graniteville · lowest
29,495
Graniteville · lowest
29,495 median HH income
12.5% of the leader · rank #1
Cypress Quart… · near
35,893
Cypress Quart… · near
35,893 median HH income
15.2% of the leader · rank #2
Bridger · near
35,893
Bridger · near
35,893 median HH income
15.2% of the leader · rank #3
Ware Shoals · this city
35,896
Ware Shoals · this city
35,896 median HH income
15.2% of the leader · rank #4
Adel · near
35,897
Adel · near
35,897 median HH income
15.2% of the leader · rank #5
Forest City · near
35,897
Forest City · near
35,897 median HH income
15.2% of the leader · rank #6
Kiawah Island · highest
236,607
Kiawah Island · highest
236,607 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 Ware Shoals 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: 2,207.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Ware Shoals - the verdict
Nationally, Ware Shoals sits in the 5th percentile for household income and the 18th percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
5th
percentile, household income
1st
percentile, home value
46th
percentile, median rent
18th
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: Ware Shoals, SC
Ware Shoals is a small town in South Carolina, home to 2,207 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Ware Shoals households earn a median of $35,896 annually, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 45.5%. Typical homes in Ware Shoals are valued around $63,600, and the median resident age is 32.2 years. Educational attainment runs 9.0% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 47.4% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Ware Shoals's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: per-100,000 total crime stands at 2818.6 in FBI UCR data, above the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as 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. Monthly utility costs average around $224 across South Carolina, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. 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 Ware Shoals'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 reported crime to schools and households to housing and income to comparison shortlist to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Ware Shoals, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, commute-mode shares, FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Is Ware Shoals growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +30 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +1.8% 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 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.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Ware Shoals?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 2818.6 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 24% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
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.
What does the education layer cover for Ware Shoals?
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.
The NCES join finds 3 public schools within the city match. 9.0% 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Ware Shoals?
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.
Within South Carolina, the closest population matches are Judson (2,201 residents, $33,600 income); Riverview (2,215 residents, $131,158 income); Kiawah Island (2,196 residents, $236,607 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are East Cleveland, TN (2,207 residents); Tioga Terrace, NY (2,206 residents); Jacobus, PA (2,208 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.
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.
Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Ware Shoals?
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. The ratio makes housing the clearest place to start this profile, but a low multiple can coexist with slow demand, older stock, or household-level hardship. Compare the home-value distribution and same-state peer table before treating it as an advantage.
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 1.8 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 45.5%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
1.8×
Home value
$63,600
Household income
$35,896
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What does the journey to work look like in Ware Shoals?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 87.1%. 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.
Drive alone
87.1%
Work from home
1.5%
Public transit
0.0%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 665 workers age 16+.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 45.5% (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 · Ware Shoals, SC
15/100
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
9.0%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$35,896
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
45.5%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime F
822 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Ware Shoals profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 70/100 (B) · 93.7 index
Bachelor's+ share: 4/100 (F) · 9.0%
Household income: 1/100 (F) · $35,896
Poverty rate: 0/100 (F) · 45.5%
Violent crime: 0/100 (F) · 822 /100k
Where Ware Shoals sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Ware Shoals'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 - Ware Shoals highlighted among 23 peers.Read the chart values
Ware Shoals, SC (this city): home $63,600, crime 2,819/100k
Elberta, AL : home $215,600, crime 3,497/100k
Elgin, SC : home $204,300, crime 5,818/100k
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 Ware Shoals compare to other US cities?
Here's how Ware Shoals stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income5% higher than other cities
Home value1% pricier than other cities
Median rent46% pricier than other cities
Safety18% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
A national percentile can hide a lot of local variation: narrowed to South Carolina alone, Ware Shoals ranks #59 of 127 South Carolina cities by lowest crime rate - a different, more locally useful comparison than stacking it against the entire country.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Ware Shoals 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 Ware Shoals near the bottom of South Carolina's cities
Among the 441 South Carolina cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Ware Shoals ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Ware Shoals only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#333 of 403
17th percentile in South Carolina
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 441
0th percentile in South Carolina
Median Home Value
#384 of 404
5th percentile in South Carolina
Poverty Rate
#15 of 439
97th percentile in South Carolina
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#366 of 441
17th 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
5th percentile nationally for median household income · 18th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Ware Shoals's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Ware Shoals'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 Ware Shoals's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$63,600Among the most affordablemore affordable than 99% 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
Ware Shoals's home-value-to-income ratio: 1.8×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#931 of 15,516
More affordable than 94% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#903 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 1.8×, Ware Shoals sits in the affordable band:
national rank #931 of 15,516 and #903 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
The multiple is comparatively compact among tracked cities, but a low ratio can still coexist with slow demand or household-level hardship.
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
$35,896Ware Shoals, SC median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Ware Shoals, 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 Ware Shoals, SC.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)9.0%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)45.5%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)47.4%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
2,207
Median Income
$35,896
Median Home Value
$63,600
Median Age
32.2
Poverty Rate
45.5%
Labor force participation
47.4%
Bachelor's Degree+
9.0%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
2818.6
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
822.1
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1996.5
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
3
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Ware Shoals's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
1,703 residents
2021
1,699 residents
2022
1,704 residents
2023
1,713 residents
2024
1,727 residents
2025
1,733 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
87.1%
Carpool
10.1%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
1.5%
Other
1.3%
Based on 665 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 Ware Shoals. 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 Ware Shoals 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 Ware Shoals sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Ware Shoals 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 ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.