Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Ridgeland grades D overall, 141st among South Carolina's 167 graded towns, mostly because of schools and safety. Its schools rank behind 97% of the state's. It reports more crime per resident than 80% of U.S. towns, including 8 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025. What it does well: homes are within reach, about $317K for a typical one, or 3.8 years of the Hilton Head Island metro’s $83K median household income. 27% of residents live below the poverty line in Ridgeland, above both the South Carolina town median (17%) and the median of U.S. towns (9.6%). On hazard risk, just 8 of South Carolina’s 263 towns do worse. Ridgeland has 3 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Jasper County Courthouse and Church of the Holy Trinity.
Where Ridgeland beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
Jasper County CourthouseWhere Ridgeland’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within South Carolina), ordered by how far Ridgeland is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 330 in 1910, 3,758 in 2020. The archive holds 18 old photos and papers going back to 1937 and 4 maps from 1920 on.
3 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Ridgeland, 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 Ridgeland.
Ridgeland draws workers from Bluffton and beyond and is healthier than towns with similar incomes, but it carries more natural-hazard risk than most of South Carolina (mostly hurricanes).
Its public schools are run by the Jasper 01 school district. Two of its 4 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Ridgeland Secondary Academy of Excellence, with 739 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ridgeland ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 775 | D |
| Ridgeland Secondary Academy of ExcellenceLargest public high schoolGrades 6–12 | Grades 6–12 | 739 | C+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within SC on state tests and graduation
1,998 jobs are based in Ridgeland, 1.5 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in.
Most working residents leave Ridgeland for work: only 9% work in town. Ridgeland’s average trip to work is 31 minutes. The top destinations are Hilton Head Island (11%), Bluffton (9%) and Beaufort (6%).
| Ridgeland | South Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 31 minutes | 24 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $63,000 | $57,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 9.1% | 6.1% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 95% of South Carolina towns, with expected losses of about $959 per resident a year; that rating is what its D− for hazard risk is built on.
The FEMA risk score in Ridgeland is 98 of 100. Since 2016, 7 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Ridgeland.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Ridgeland reports more crime per resident than most U.S. towns we grade: about 80% report less. Within South Carolina, it does better than 58% of towns.
| Ridgeland | South Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 25.9 per 1,000 residents | 21.1 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 2.1 per 1,000 residents | 4.3 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Ridgeland has mild winters and warm summers, with plenty of rain. July afternoons reach 92°, January nights drop to 38° and snow is almost unheard of.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Against the 9,587 U.S. towns with household incomes like Ridgeland’s, it is less healthy than 50%, so its C isn’t only a matter of income.
Ridgeland beats the South Carolina average on 4 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 12. 18% of Ridgeland adults 18 to 64 have no health insurance. Among 169 South Carolina towns, just 9 have a lower share of adults who have been diagnosed with depression than Ridgeland.
| Ridgeland | South Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 13% | 8.1% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 26% | 21% | 14% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 23% | 23% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 39% | 38% | 36% |
| What stands out | Ridgeland | SC |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 5.6% | 8.6% |
| Fewer adults with arthritis | 22.5% | 28.5% |
| More adults facing housing insecurity | 20.3% | 13.3% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Harold Turpin Park | — | 3 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
47% of households own their home in Ridgeland. The typical Ridgeland home is worth about $317,000, down 0.7% in a year, close to the South Carolina typical home.
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Ridgeland. Close and well known come first.
29 mi MuseumMercer House
27 mi National MonumentFort Pulaski National Monument321K visitors a year
29 mi MuseumSorrel–Weed House
35 mi State parkWormsloe Historic Site
13 mi Ancient siteOld Sheldon Church Ruins
18 mi Ancient siteCharlesfort-Santa Elena SiteMercer House: Kyle Kesselring from Canal Winchester, OH, CC BY 2.0 · Fort Pulaski National Monument: Edibobb, CC BY 3.0 · Sorrel–Weed House: Unknown, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wormsloe Historic Site: Bubba73, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Old Sheldon Church Ruins: Bill Fitzpatrick, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Charlesfort-Santa Elena Site: Arman Manookian, Public domain
2 within 15 miles of the center of Ridgeland
About 3 of every 100 Ridgeland residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across South Carolina.
3 places in Ridgeland on the National Register of Historic Places.
4 notable people were born in Ridgeland.
Town in South Carolina, United States
Ridgeland is a town in and the county seat of Jasper County, South Carolina, United States. The town incorporation limits extend into Beaufort County up to the Broad River. The population was 3,749 at the 2020 census, all of which resided in Jasper County. Ridgeland is included in the Hilton Head Island metropolitan area. Ridgeland was originally known as "Gopher Hill" in 1894, derived from the gopher tortoise, which is indigenous to the area. The name was not considered good enough for a new railroad station, so it was changed to "Ridgeland" in 1902 by the station ticket master, Frederick Henry Ingram, for the fact that the town stands on a sandy ridge that is some of the highest land in J…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Ridgeland grades D overall, better than 8% of U.S. towns and #141 of 167 in South Carolina. It grades C for health, C− for safety and D− for schools. Hazard risk is its weak spot, with a D−.
Within South Carolina, it does better than 58% of towns.
Not for the area. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades A−.
4 notable people were born here, including Lloyd W. Newton and Jacob E. Smart.
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