With Greenville constantly growing and undertaking multiple high-profile developments this year, we figured it was time to talk about the cost of planting some roots in Greenville.
The median household income in Greenville County is $71,328 according to the US Census Bureau. State-wise, SC is 41 in the country for median income at $59,318 per household.
The overall cost of living in Greenville is lower than the national average, but higher than the rest of the state.
In Greenville, the cost of healthcare is lower compared to other parts of the state + the US, and the cost of groceries, housing, transportation, and other miscellaneous expenses in the city have lower average costs than the country overall.
Breaking down the numbers
Hypothetically speaking, if you live in a household that brings in $50,000 annually — according to experts — you shouldn’t spend more than 30% of your monthly gross income on rent and utilities. Don’t worry, we did the math for you — your max monthly budget would be $1,250. The average monthly rent for an apartment in Greenville is $1,410 — putting you over budget.
According to a study by Attom Data Solutions, it’s actually more affordable to buy a home in Greenville County than to rent.
Interested in seeing Greenville’s cost of living compared to cities in other states? We played around on nerdwallet’s cost of living calculator, where you can put in any city along with your current pre-tax household income to find out what other cities you could actually afford to live in.
We took a look at the cost of living in Greenville compared to Columbia. Here’s what we found (according to nerdwallet):
- The cost of living is 4% higher in Columbia.
- To maintain our standard of living, we would need to bring in $51,804 to our Columbia household.
- The median cost for a two-bedroom apartment in Columbia is $1,151, compared to $1,259 in Greenville
Greenville also has entities such as the Greenville Housing Fund and The Greenville Housing Authority + other government-funded programs to help develop more affordable units.
