Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Lancaster grades D overall, 134th among South Carolina's 167 graded towns, mostly because of safety and health. Its crime rate is higher than 99% of U.S. towns, with 114 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025. Residents are less healthy than 96% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. It also has a long history, with 9 places on the National Register. Lancaster’s violent crime rate is 11.8 per 1,000 residents, above both the South Carolina town median (3.9) and the median of U.S. towns (1.6). Lancaster is home to University of South Carolina-Lancaster. Only 6 of the 169 South Carolina towns we compare have a lower January low than Lancaster.
Where Lancaster beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
Lancaster County Courthouse
Lancaster County Courthouse is one of 2 National Historic Landmarks here, the National Register’s top tier.
Census counts: 376 in 1850, 8,460 in 2020. The archive holds 18 old photos and papers going back to 1823 and a map from 1969 on.
9 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within South Carolina), ordered by how far Lancaster is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Lancaster, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Sep 12, 2025.
Ordered by what stands out in Lancaster.
Lancaster trades lower home prices for longer drives to work and draws workers from Rock Hill and beyond, but it reports violent crime at 3 times the South Carolina rate.
Violent crime runs at 11.8 per 1,000 residents, 3 times the South Carolina rate; the Safety Grade counts each violent crime four times, so this weighs most on its D−. At 93.8 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports more crime than 83% of South Carolina’s graded towns.
Lancaster reports more crime per resident than most U.S. towns we grade: about 99% report less. Lancaster’s property crime rate is 41.2 per 1,000 residents.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Its public schools are run by the Lancaster 01 school district. Two of its 5 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Lancaster High, with 1,390 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| North ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 645 | B |
| Lancaster HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,390 | B− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within SC on state tests and graduation
19% of Lancaster adults have diabetes. Lancaster beats the South Carolina average on 1 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 23. 33% of Lancaster adults worry about having enough food.
| Lancaster | South Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 15% | 12% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 33% | 21% | 14% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 37% | 28% | 25% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 22% | 19% |
| What stands out | Lancaster | SC |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer binge drinkers | 12.3% | 15.7% |
| More adults facing a utility shut-off | 17.1% | 8.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
8,783 jobs are based in Lancaster, 2.3 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in.
Most working residents leave Lancaster for work: only 16% work in town. 21% of residents live below the poverty line in Lancaster. Jobs based in Lancaster grew to 8,783 in 2023, 1,557 more than in 2013.
| Lancaster | South Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 21% | 17% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 16% | 6.1% | 8% |
| Median household income | $46,000 | $57,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 26 minutes | 24 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
January nights average 31°: milder than most of the country, but colder than 94% of South Carolina places with climate records; July afternoons average 90.8°.
Lancaster has mild winters and warm summers. The July high in Lancaster is 91°F. About 3 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 59% of U.S. communities. Since 1989, 4 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Lancaster.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Homes are within reach (about $285K for the typical one, B+ for cost of living), but half of working residents commute more than 25 miles.
The typical Lancaster home is worth about $285,000, about the same as a year ago, 6% below the South Carolina typical home.
| Lancaster | South Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 51% | 65% | 73% |
| Median rent | $868 a month | $1,062 a month | $1,185 a month |
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
0.0 miles of trail in 6 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Melvin Steele Park, at 66 acres.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Melvin Steele Park | — | 66 |
| 2. Wiley Park | — | 19 |
| 3. Buckelew Park | — | 11 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
1 within 15 miles of the center of Lancaster
About 6 of every 100 Lancaster residents are enrolled in college, about the same as South Carolina.
9 places in Lancaster on the National Register of Historic Places.
33 notable people were born in Lancaster.
City in South Carolina, United States
Lancaster () is a city in and the county seat of Lancaster County, South Carolina, United States, located in the Charlotte Metropolitan Area. As of the 2020 census, Lancaster had a population of 8,460. The city was named after the famous House of Lancaster.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
One town shares a border with Lancaster.
| Town | SC rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lancaster | #134 | D | B+ | D− | B+ | D− |
| Springdale | — | — | A | — | B+ | D− |
Springdale has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Springdale reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Lancaster with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Lancaster grades D overall, better than 11% of U.S. towns and #134 of 167 in South Carolina. It grades D− for health, D− for safety and B+ for schools. Safety is its weak spot, with a D−.
Not for the area. That is 3.4 years of the area's median household income ($83,304 across the Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC metro area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B+.
33 notable people were born here, including Nina Mae McKinney and Jim Hodges.
