Living in Florence, SC

Florence County

Florence's identity runs through two real, current, and genuinely combined anchors: its position as the Pee Dee region's primary interstate crossroads, and its role as home to McLeod Health, a major regional healthcare employer. Florence sits directly at the intersection of Interstate 95 and Interstate 20 -- a real, current logistics distinction among the four South Carolina markets built in this wave, framed by regional economic-development sources as "halfway between Miami and New York" with access to 30 major US markets, and further anchored by CSX's largest railway yard in South Carolina and Florence Regional Airport. McLeod Health, a not-for-profit system founded in 1906 and headquartered in Florence, operates a real 7-hospital network reaching from Florence to Myrtle Beach, with an employee count that carried real, disclosed disagreement this pass (roughly 10,000-18,000 depending on source) but that consistently ranks among the Florence area's 20 largest employers and earned Forbes recognition as a top South Carolina employer. Florence's housing and rent run genuinely affordable -- Zillow's typical home value of $205,563 and rent averaging $1,205/month -- alongside the lowest effective property tax rate (0.42%) among the four SC markets in this wave. South Carolina's real, current two-bracket income tax (Act 110, 1.99%/5.21% for tax year 2026) applies statewide, with Social Security fully exempt and a coordinated $15,000-per-person senior deduction. Two honest tensions temper the picture. Florence's crime data is real and serious, not softened: 122.97% above the national average. And Florence carries the most severe, most directly documented storm-hazard history among the four markets in this wave: while genuinely inland with zero hurricane-landfall or storm-surge risk, Hurricane Florence's September 2018 remnant rainfall struck the city directly -- roughly 3,000 Florence residents were told to evacuate immediately due to severe flooding, and a 5-mile stretch of I-95 was closed at the Great Pee Dee River bridge for days, part of a statewide storm toll of 9 fatalities, $607 million in damage, and 455,000 people evacuated concentrated in exactly the eastern, inland region that includes Florence.

Explore Florence in depth

• Moving to Florence: Pros, Cons & What to Know
• Cost of Living in Florence
• Housing Market in Florence
• Buying a Home in Florence
• Renting in Florence
• Taxes in Florence
• Homeowners Insurance & Natural Hazard Costs in Florence
• Climate & Weather in Florence
• Jobs & Economy in Florence
• Schools in Florence
• Crime & Safety in Florence
• Healthcare in Florence
• Traffic & Transportation in Florence
• Best Areas to Live in Florence
• Pros and Cons of Living in Florence
• Retiring in Florence
• Who Should / Shouldn’t Move to Florence

Housing

Taxes

The tradeoffs

Who this fits

Best for: Buyers and healthcare/logistics workers drawn to genuinely affordable housing and rent, low property taxes, and a real regional-hub job market anchored by McLeod Health and Florence's interstate-crossroads logistics identity; first-time homebuyers prioritizing affordability over big-city amenity density.

Maybe not for you if: Buyers highly sensitive to crime statistics should weigh Florence's real, disclosed 122.97%-above-national crime rate seriously; anyone purchasing property near the Pee Dee River floodplain or in flood-prone low-lying areas should confirm FEMA flood-zone status directly given Florence's real, severe, directly documented Hurricane Florence 2018 impact; buyers wanting a settled homeowners-insurance figure should get current, address-specific quotes given the real, wide spread disclosed here.