What is the cost of living in Spartanburg?

Spartanburg has a Regional Price Parity (RPP) of 91.1, where 100 represents the national average. Housing costs index at 68.0, which is below the national average. The average 2-bedroom rent is $1,187/month.

What is the median salary in Spartanburg?

The median salary in Spartanburg is $63,034 annually (mean: $66,706). Top occupations include Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators, Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand, Cashiers.

How safe is Spartanburg?

The violent crime rate in the Spartanburg area is 439 per 100,000 population (state-level data). Property crime rate is 1988 per 100K.

What are the schools like in Spartanburg?

The state of SC has 1,215 schools (state-level data, no metro-level federal count exists) with an average student-teacher ratio of 13.8:1. About 49.4% are Title I schools. Charter schools make up 7.2% of all schools.

How much does childcare cost in Spartanburg?

Infant center-based childcare in the Spartanburg area averages $7,732 per year. Preschool averages $7,402/year. These are state-level averages.

Is Spartanburg a good place to relocate?

Spartanburg has a Life Score of 56.8/100 (C-), based on 7 of 7 available dimensions among cost of living, wages, rent, crime, schools, childcare, and environment (missing dims omitted, weights renormalized). This is an above-average score, Spartanburg outperforms most scored metros on the combined measure.

Where does Spartanburg sit among US metros on LiveAbility?

According to PlainRelocate's LiveAbility composite, Spartanburg ranks #13 of 387 scored US metros by LiveAbility Score (highest score = #1). That ordinal matches the /rankings/livability listing. See /methodology#corpus-placement for the exact sort basis.

Relocation profile · Federal data

Spartanburg, SC

LiveAbility 65.9/100 places Spartanburg #13 of 387 (top third of scored metros).

Compiled by PlainRelocate · June 15, 2026

91.1
Cost index (US=100): $1,187
2BR rent / mo: $63,034
Median salary: 65.9
LiveAbility Score

The verdict

As of June 2026, Spartanburg ranks #13 of 387 US metros on the LiveAbility Score (65.9/100), with its strongest marks in safety and climate.

#13
of 387 US metros · Excellent: 5,478,831
metro-area population: 439
violent crimes per 100K (state-level): 1,215
schools in the state (NCES)

Weakest dimension: air quality (23/100). Weigh every dimension against your own priorities, use the City Finder to re-rank by what matters to you.

According to PlainRelocate's LiveAbility composite (BEA, BLS, HUD, FBI, NCES, EPA, NOAA, and FEMA inputs), Spartanburg ranks #13 of 387 scored US metros by LiveAbility Score (highest score = #1). Cost-of-living index 91.1 (100 = national average), median 2-bedroom rent $1,187/mo, median salary $63,034; LiveAbility Score 65.9/100, strongest in safety and climate.

Signature: LiveAbility 65.9/100 places Spartanburg #13 of 387 (top third of scored metros).

Purchasing power opens up: BEA RPP 91.1 lands in the cheaper third of scored metros (cuts at 91.5 / 97.0). Median 2BR rent $1,187/mo.

LiveAbility 65.9/100 puts Spartanburg in the top third (#13 of 387).

BLS OEWS total employment in the Spartanburg area is 158,460.

Spartanburg vs all US metros by LiveAbility Score

Where this metro's LiveAbility Score falls among every scored US metro (composite placement, not a desirability verdict)

66 Top 3% higher than 97% of 387 US metros

Metros banded by LiveAbility Score (0–100)

Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more US metros. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source PlainRelocate LiveAbility Score · June 2026

Spartanburg housing and rent

HUD Fair Market Rents for the Spartanburg MSA; housing RPP 68.0 (100 = national average); 2BR $1,187/mo.

Studio

$1,034

/month

1 Bedroom

$1,083

/month

2 Bedroom

$1,187

/month

3 Bedroom

$1,439

/month

4 Bedroom

$1,661

/month

Spartanburg wages and employment

Spartanburg posts 158,460 total employment with median salary $63,034 against a cheaper-than-average RPP.

Median Salary

$63,034

Mean Salary

$66,706

Total Employment

158,460

Top Occupations by Employment

Occupation	Median Salary
Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators	$59,300
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand	$37,540
Cashiers	$29,960
Fast Food and Counter Workers	$27,390
Registered Nurses	$82,360

Schools & Education

State-level education data for the Spartanburg area from NCES.

Schools

1,215

Enrollment

784,749

Student:Teacher

13.8:1

Title I %

49.4%

Childcare Costs

State-average childcare costs for the Spartanburg area (DOL data).

Infant (Center)

$7,732

per year

Toddler (Center)

$7,449

per year

Preschool (Center)

$7,402

per year

Life Score Breakdown

Spartanburg's composite Life Score is 56.8/100 (C-), computed across 7 of 7 dimensions.

Cost

69/100

Strong

Wages

41/100

Below average

Rent

65/100

Strong

Crime

96/100

Elite

Schools

27/100

Weak

Childcare

69/100

Strong

Environment

8/100

Bottom decile

LiveAbility Score

View full rankings →

Spartanburg ranks #13 out of 387 metros with a LiveAbility Score of 65.9/100 - a composite of 8 of 8 quality-of-life dimensions from federal data. Customize the weights to match your priorities →

Strongest dimension: Safety (96/100)

Safety

96
Climate

91
Low hazard

76
Schools

73
Cost of living

69
Housing

65
Job market

41
Air quality

23

What this shows Spartanburg's strongest dimensions are safety and climate; its weakest among scored dims is air quality at 23/100. Default weights: cost 18%, jobs & housing 15% each, safety & schools 12%, air & hazard 10%, climate 8%.

Compare Spartanburg to

Gettysburg Glens Falls Goldsboro Grand Forks Grand Island Grand Junction

Metros near Spartanburg on cost, LiveAbility, or wages

Nearest out-of-state neighbors to Spartanburg on BEA RPP, LiveAbility, or BLS median salary, a different lens than the size-ranked list.

Similar cost of living (BEA RPP)

Similar LiveAbility score

† No air quality reading on file for this metro, so its score is built from fewer than all 8 dimensions: the missing dimension is omitted and the remaining weights renormalized. It is not directly comparable with a full 8-dimension score.

Source: BEA Regional Price Parities, HUD Fair Market Rents, BLS OES, FBI UCR, NCES, DOL, EPA June 2026

Spartanburg cost figures follow BEA Regional Price Parities and HUD Fair Market Rents; Spartanburg wages and LiveAbility inputs follow BLS OEWS plus the federal sources listed in methodology. This information is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. Scores are federal-data percentiles, not a move recommendation. How this data is sourced.

Verify with BEA → · Verify with BLS → · Verify with HUD → · Verify with NOAA → · Verify with FEMA → · Verify with Census →

Weighing a move to Spartanburg?

Here is where Spartanburg stands: a $63,034 median salary, a 91.1 cost index and a LiveAbility rank of #13 of 387.

See exactly what Spartanburg's pay and cost figures mean for your own budget. Salary calculator
Put Spartanburg head-to-head against another city on the same dimensions. Compare Spartanburg
Abilene is the nearest related metro in this corpus, and the two are easy to compare. Abilene profile
When cost and LiveAbility disagree, the guide shows how to weigh the trade-off. Cost vs quality guide

Federal-data percentiles for cost, salary and score; they are not a recommendation to move.