ClearwaterSC
A town of 3,319, settled in 1901.
Is Clearwater a good place to live?
Clearwater gives you more for your money than most places: a typical home costs about $158K, 2.3 years of the Augusta metro’s $69K median household income. It grades C+ overall, 68th of 167 graded towns in South Carolina. The low prices come with trade-offs. Residents are less healthy than 86% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates, and the median household income is $52K, and 17% of residents live below the poverty line. On the plus side, natural-hazard risk is low. Only 17 of South Carolina’s 263 towns score lower on the outdoors.
What makes Clearwater stand out
Where Clearwater beats most towns.
98% of working residents leave Clearwater for work
Where Clearwater’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
How Clearwater grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within South Carolina), ordered by how far Clearwater is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Clearwater: who provides what
Clearwater is unincorporated, so Aiken County and regional agencies provide most services.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Sep 12, 2025.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Clearwater.
Clearwater sends many workers across the state line to Martinez, is healthier than towns with similar incomes and has homes that are cheap against local pay.
Clearwater earns a D for health
Against the 6,370 U.S. towns with household incomes like Clearwater’s, it is less healthy than 68%, so its D isn’t only a matter of income.
33% of adults get no exercise outside work in Clearwater, where South Carolina’s towns sit at 28% and U.S. towns at 25%. 16% of adults 18 to 64 have no health insurance in Clearwater. Clearwater beats the South Carolina average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 18.
| Clearwater | South Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 33% | 28% | 25% |
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 13% | 8.1% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 15% | 12% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 26% | 22% | 19% |
| What stands out | Clearwater | SC |
|---|---|---|
| More uninsured adults | 16.3% | 11.8% |
| More adults facing food insecurity | 23.7% | 17.4% |
| More smokers | 17.8% | 13.3% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Clearwater’s schools rank ahead of 62% of South Carolina districts
Its public schools are run by the Aiken 01 school district. Its one school is below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clearwater ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 338 | B |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within SC on state tests and graduation
Inland flooding leads a low hazard risk in Clearwater
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 80% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Clearwater has 0.4 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
32% of working residents cross a state line to work, Martinez among the top destinations.
Most working residents leave Clearwater for work: only 2% work in town. Since 2013, Clearwater has added 98 jobs, to 504 in 2023. At $52,000, Clearwater’s median household income is close to South Carolina’s towns ($57,000) and below U.S. towns ($80,000).
| Clearwater | South Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $52,000 | $57,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 2.1% | 6.3% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 26 minutes | 24 minutes | 25 minutes |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Clearwater stands out in South Carolina and nationally: a typical July afternoon there is hotter
The July high in Clearwater is 93°F. Clearwater has mild winters and hot summers.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The median home in Clearwater sells for about $203K
At 2.3 years of the Augusta metro’s $69K median household income, the typical home costs less against local pay than in 87% of South Carolina towns; that ratio is one input to its A for cost of living.
Clearwater’s median rent is $735 a month.
| Clearwater | South Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 58% | 65% | 73% |
| Median rent | $735 a month | $1,062 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Fort Gordon and 5 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Clearwater. Close and well known come first.
14 mi LandmarkFort Gordon
4 mi Stadium & arenaJames Brown Arena
4 mi MuseumMeadow Garden
4 mi MuseumMorris Museum of Art120K visitors a year
4 mi GardenAugusta Botanical Gardens5 mi MuseumBeech Island Historical SocietyPhoto credits
Fort Gordon: U.S. Army Cyber Command, Public domain · James Brown Arena: Thomson200, CC0 · Meadow Garden: Flickr user Sir Mildred Pierce, CC BY 2.0 · Morris Museum of Art: Thomson200, CC0 · Augusta Botanical Gardens: Liam Wolff (Ospr3yy at en.wikipedia), FAL
Everything we know about Clearwater
Colleges nearby
6 within 15 miles of the center of Clearwater
About 2 of every 100 Clearwater residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across South Carolina.
About Clearwater
Census-designated place in South Carolina, United States
Clearwater is a census-designated place (CDP) in Aiken County, South Carolina. It lies near North Augusta, South Carolina, and is part of the Augusta, Georgia metropolitan area. Clearwater is located in historic Horse Creek Valley. The population was 4,370 at the time of the 2010 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 4.3 sq mi
- Elevation
- 148 ft
- ZIP code
- 29822
Clearwater’s neighbors
2 towns share a border with Clearwater.
| Town | SC rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clearwater | #68 | C+ | A | — | B | D |
| Burnettown | #67 | C+ | A− | B+ | B | D |
| North Augusta | #14 | A− | B | — | B | B+ |
Clearwater and North Augusta report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Clearwater with a neighbor →
Questions about Clearwater
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Clearwater, SC a good place to live?
Clearwater grades C+ overall, better than 44% of U.S. towns and #68 of 167 in South Carolina. It grades D for health and B for schools. Health is its weak spot, with a D.
Is Clearwater, SC expensive?
Not for the area. The typical home is worth about $158,000, 48% below the South Carolina typical home. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades A.