10 Best Towns In South Carolina To Retire Comfortably

Picture yourself trading alarm-clock buzzes for the slow sway of a porch swing, sweet-tea beads racing down a Mason jar while cicadas keep time in the shadows of palmettos. South Carolina does quiet mastery better than most states; it's the rare place where Revolutionary War earthworks, blue-rated golf fairways, and next-gen cardiac clinics share the same ZIP code. Yet not every Lowcountry marsh or Sandhills crossroad suits a long-term nest egg. Comfort, after all, is a formula: dependable health care + sane home prices + something worth bragging about at Sunday brunch!

That's why we stitched together a "porch-to-pier" list of ten towns that check every box, including a few you won't see on the usual lists. From a riverside hamlet where shrimp boats still unload at dawn to an upstate enclave powered by nuclear-plant stability (think rock-solid tax base, rock-bottom utility bills), each community offers a distinct flavor of Southern ease, without the Charleston price tag.

Aiken

Before sunrise, riders still escort thoroughbreds along Aiken's packed-sand lanes, preserving the polo-resort heritage established by the Winter Colony of 1892. The Aiken Training Track, on the National Register of Historic Places, stays active and lures East-Coast stables each January. Longleaf pines filter the Sandhills air, Savannah River Site laboratories sustain professional households nearby, and Aiken Regional Medical Centers supplies Level III trauma coverage, practical anchors for aging residents. Retirees also notice numbers: the May 2025 median list sits at $266,000, keeping brick cottages and two-acre horse farms within pension reach.

Start with Hopelands Gardens: ninety-year hollies shade two miles of paved paths, and free chamber concerts run April through June. For coffee, New Moon Café pours Ethiopian drip beside rotating canvases by county painters. The Aiken Center for the Arts offers juried exhibitions and a clay studio open to beginners, rain-day insurance. Finish at The Willcox, a 1900 Beaux-Arts hotel where Teddy Roosevelt slept; locals join its $50 monthly pool plan for low-impact aquatic exercise. Weekly docent-led history talks supplement the experience. Participation requires no prior membership.

Conway

Conway predates the United States; its original 1734 street grid still aligns with the Waccamaw River's slow curve, the state's only surviving royal-grant plan. Live-oak canopies support a Christmas light show that draws 100,000 visitors today yet never overwhelms residents, because population remains under 30,000. Grand Strand Medical Center stands fifteen minutes east, but Conway Medical Center handles most specialty care. Zillow logged a May 2025 median list of $290,000, just around the statewide median, letting retirees trade beach proximity for manageable taxes.

Begin morning walks on the Conway Riverwalk, a 1.5-mile boardwalk that skirts cypress knees and rents kayaks from Riverfront Guide Service. History follows at the Horry County Museum, housed in a 1905 Gothic Revival school and featuring a working 1907 steam log hauler every Saturday. For lunch, Rivertown Bistro pairs andouille-shrimp grits with second-floor river views; the elevator eliminates stairs. Finish with a live production at the Theatre of the Republic, South Carolina's oldest continually operating community playhouse. Wheelchair ramps were added during its 2019 refurbishment for improved accessibility.

Anderson

Water power turned Anderson into South Carolina's "Electric City" in 1895, when the Portman Shoals plant lit 5,000 incandescent lamps a year before New York's subway opened. Residents still pay about 13 percent below the national electricity average, and city-run fiber delivers gigabit internet to every block. AnMed Health Medical Center, a 461-bed regional hospital, anchors oncology and cardiac services two miles from downtown. Zillow's April 2025 median list price rests at $270,000. Property taxes stay similarly modest for fixed incomes too.

Morning cardio is easy on the East-West Greenway, a paved loop starting at Carolina Wren Park where synchronized water curtains cool walkers every half hour. The Anderson County Museum, admission-free, holds 25,000 artifacts including the 1905 Fant motorized cotton gin, docents offer Thursday genealogy workshops. For steak, Sullivan's Metropolitan Grill occupies a 120-year-old Ford showroom and serves a fixed-price early-bird plate. Weekend relaxation continues at Sadlers Creek State Park on Lake Hartwell; boat ramps, an accessible courtesy dock, two fishing piers and 37 level campsites with electric hookups serve anglers and campers alike.

Seneca

Seneca began as a railroad junction in 1873; today Duke Energy's three-unit nuclear station two miles north supplies some of the most reliable voltage in the state. Blue Ridge Communications blankets every street with fiber, unusual for a town under 10,000. Prisma Health's advanced heart program in Greenville lies forty minutes east, while Oconee Memorial Hospital covers emergencies. Zillow puts the March 2025 median list price at $360,000.

Launch mornings at Lake Keowee Marina. Follow the shoreline to South Cove County Park, whose three resurfaced pickleball courts fill with retirees by 8 a.m. Heritage buffs head to the Lunney Museum, a 1909 Craftsman bungalow retaining original leaded glass; docent tours last forty minutes. Keowee Brewing Company completes the quartet with a low-volume taproom serving Small Town ESB and offering half-price pints to patrons holding Oconee County library cards. Live folk duos play every second Thursday evening.

Lexington

Lexington earned the state's first ISO-Class 1 fire rating in 2023, trimming homeowners' insurance premiums town-wide. Sixty-two miles of dedicated bike lanes support congestion-free errands, rare for a municipality under 30,000. Lexington Medical Center's 557-bed campus sits six miles east and runs a senior-focused heart-failure clinic. Zillow lists an April 2025 median of $303,000, and Lexington County exempts the first $50,000 of assessed value for homeowners over sixty-five. Water-and-sewer impact fees were frozen through fiscal 2026.

Evenings begin at the Icehouse Amphitheater, where free Friday concerts run April-November; bring lightweight folding chairs. History sits a few blocks east at the Lexington County Museum, 36 restored buildings including the 1771 John Fox House; hearth-cooking demos occur each third Saturday. Cap the day with a two-mile stroll across the Lake Murray Dam walkway; LED bollards installed in 2024 improve dusk visibility. Benches line every tenth pole for rest breaks.

North Augusta

North Augusta spans two states in one postcode; municipal fire engines reach Augusta University Medical Center across the Savannah River in under six minutes. A city-owned hydro plant on the old Hamburg Canal keeps electric rates low. An expanded Aiken County Veterans Clinic lies eight miles west. Zillow's March 2025 median list stands at $258,000, just 7 percent above the state figure and far below comparable suburbs. Property reassessments occur only quadrennially.

Daybreak belongs to the 12-mile Greeneway Trail; its 0.5 percent grade suits recumbent trikes. Continue south into Hammond's Ferry, where Manuel's Bread Café serves duck-confit omelets on a terrace overlooking Brick Pond wetlands. Afternoon entertainment shifts to SRP Park, home of the Single-A Augusta GreenJackets; shaded senior seats run $9 with elevator access. Conclude at Riverview Park Activities Center; its Olympic-size indoor pool offers cheap senior drop-ins. Pickleball courts were resurfaced in 2024 for smoother, low-impact lateral movement and play.

Camden

Founded in 1730, Camden is South Carolina's oldest inland municipality and hosts the annual Carolina Cup steeplechase, an event that swells population ten-fold yet sustains a year-round equestrian economy. Historic Camden Foundation protects 107 acres of Revolutionary War redoubts, one of the nation's most intact colonial battle landscapes. KershawHealth Medical Center added a cath lab in 2022. Zillow's May 2025 median list price posts at $234,000. Senior homestead exemptions erase county school taxes after age sixty-five for permanent residents.

Start at Camden Archives & Museum; its vault holds 1781 Cornwallis parole documents, displayed every February. Next door, Books on Broad café pours chicory lattes and stocks large-print editions. Seafood craving? Sam Kendall's, inside an 1840 bank, serves grilled cobia in a dining room that seldom exceeds 60 dB. When daylight allows, paddle Goodale State Park's three-mile cypress-swamp trail; rental kayaks include high-back seats, and a ranger leads a slow-stroke retirees' tour each Tuesday. Life jackets are provided at no additional charge there.

Gaffney

Gaffney's 135-foot Peachoid water tower doubles as Interstate 85's most photographed marker and symbolizes a crop that still ships 70 million lb annually. Freightliner's 1,800-employee truck plant and 114-year-old Limestone University keep services robust without urban congestion. Cherokee Medical Center links to Spartanburg Regional for tele-cardiology. Zillow notes a May 2025 median list of $218,000, letting many retirees buy debt-free. County property-tax bills average $580 on a $200,000 assessment annually.

Morning exercise means the flat, one-mile interpretive loop at Cowpens National Battlefield, where musket demos fire the first Saturday monthly. Back in town, the Cherokee Historical and Arts Museum displays Catawba pottery in an 1898 bank with smartphone audio guides. Lunch follows at Harold's Restaurant, a 1932 chili-burger counter offering half-portion senior plates and cash-only budgeting discipline.

Florence

Florence began as a three-rail junction in 1853 and still enjoys daily Amtrak service toward both New York and Miami, rare in cities under 50,000. Logistics support McLeod Regional Medical Center's Level II trauma hospital, offering 20 subspecialties within a 15-minute drive. Since 2018, $42 million in storm-water upgrades have cut homeowners-insurance premiums nine percent. Zillow's April 2025 median list price stands at $219,000, comfortably below the state median. Florence County waives solid-waste fees for residents over sixty-five, trimming recurring expenses quite noticeably.

Begin at the Florence County Museum; its William H. Johnson collection rotates quarterly, and admission is free. Ten minutes south, the Pee Dee State Farmers Market sells White Acre peas by the bushel and lends wagons to cooler-less shoppers. Victors Bistro in Hotel Florence plates crab-stuffed tomatoes and offers a $20 three-course senior prix fixe until 6 p.m. Outdoor respite waits at Lynches River County Park, where a wheelchair-accessible canopy walk rises 50 feet above tupelo swamp. Guides conduct bird-watch walks on the first and third Saturdays each month.

Greenwood

Greenwood was the smallest U.S. city ever to stage a professional opera season, founded in 1967 by soprano Beverly Wolff and still thriving each summer. That cultural note joins steady industry from Fujifilm's 500-acre campus and Ascend Performance Materials. Self Regional Healthcare, a regional cardiac center, sits inside city limits. Greenwood's median house price sits at $185,000, scarcely above the state median and well below neighboring lakefront enclaves. The county also freezes assessed values for owner-occupiers after one reassessment, guarding against tax spikes later.

Start at Uptown Market's splash-pad pavilion, a social hub on summer mornings. Two blocks away, Howard's on Main brews Sumatra dark roast and hosts Wednesday trivia from 5-7 p.m. The Museum and Railroad Historical Center preserves a 1914 Pullman sleeper and offers platform-lift tours for mobility devices. Cap the afternoon at Lake Greenwood State Park: its level asphalt peninsula trail favors flat-ground walkers, and the ranger loans fishing gear free to anyone over sixty-five. Seasonal bluegrass concerts on the beach run June through August after sunset too.

From horse-country Aiken to opera-loving Greenwood, these ten towns prove retirement comfort is a deliberate choice, not a compromise. Each pairs fair home prices with hospital corridors close enough to matter and recreations varied enough to keep Monday from blurring into Saturday. Scan the list again, note the median that matches your budget, then schedule a long weekend. Porch swings wait, but they won't reserve themselves. Start planning today, seriously.