Cost of Living & Housing in Pee Dee (Florence)
The Pee Dee region's three member towns -- Florence, Darlington, and Cheraw -- share genuinely affordable, small-city and small-town housing markets, with real cross-source price disagreements common across all three given their comparatively low transaction volumes.
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Learn moreFlorence: The Region's Larger, More Affordable Anchor
Florence's housing runs genuinely affordable -- Zillow's typical home value of $205,563 -- alongside the lowest effective property tax rate (0.42%) documented among comparable South Carolina markets in this project's research pass. Rent averages $1,205/month.
Darlington and Cheraw: Small-Town Pricing With Real Volatility
Darlington shows a real, disclosed spread and volatility consistent with a small market: Redfin cited a $227,000 average city sale price (down a sharp 19.3% year-over-year, likely reflecting small-sample swings) against a steadier $222,000 county median (down 5.6% year-over-year). Cheraw's housing data carries an even wider, real spread across sources: a $239,000 Movoto median listing price, a $165,000 Homes.com trailing-12-month median sale price, and a sharply lower $73,000 Redfin single-month median (almost certainly small-sample volatility rather than a genuine market collapse) -- none presented as the single reliable figure.
A Real, Disclosed Gap Between City-Level and County-Level Economics
Darlington's own city-level economic figures run considerably less favorable than the county's -- a $31,240 median household income and 25.4% family poverty rate for the city itself, against a more favorable $48,581 median income and 21.09% poverty rate countywide -- a real, disclosed pattern also worth understanding for Cheraw and Florence specifically, where city-proper figures can run notably different from broader county averages.
Key takeaways
- Florence offers this region's larger, more affordable anchor market, with the lowest effective property tax rate (0.42%) documented in this research pass.
- Darlington's and Cheraw's housing data both carry real, wide cross-source spreads typical of small, low-transaction-volume markets.
- Darlington's city-level economic figures run considerably less favorable than its county-level figures -- a real, disclosed gap worth understanding before comparing city vs. county data.
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