Best Places to Buy Rental Property in South Carolina (2026)

Cheap is not the same as high-yield in South Carolina. Spartanburg has the lowest median price on this list at $221,500 and ranks seventh; Irmo, where a $221,600 home asks $2,028 a month, ranks first at 11.0 percent gross. Longs follows at 8.5 percent, on a $282,990 median price and $1,999 in asking rent. Myrtle Beach, the busiest market on the list with about 189 closings a month, sits fourth of 20 at 8.4 percent. For three of these cities the page also shows a confirmed-close median; in Myrtle Beach, 87 confirmed lease closes carry a median of $1,895 against a $1,850 asking median. The two samples are not paired, so the gap describes the samples, not the same homes. Measured against the whole state, these are cheap markets: a median of $284,125 here against $339,900 statewide. The table shows the 20 highest-yielding markets among 53 South Carolina cities meeting the coverage requirements; the yield range above describes the markets shown.

The ranking

Gross yield here is an asking rental yield screen: twelve times the median asking rent over the median closed price, before taxes, insurance, vacancy, management or repairs. Sales use municipal boundaries. Rental listings use the associated city name and may cover a wider postal area. The ratio therefore compares related, but not perfectly matched, market samples, and a home bought at the median price does not necessarily earn the median rent. Confirmed-close medians appear where at least 30 confirmed lease closes were recorded in the window.

City by city

1. Irmo, 11.0 percent gross

At $221,600 to buy and $2,028 a month to rent, Irmo yields 11.0 percent gross on 165 tracked closings. Houses there closed at about $137 per square foot. The Irmo market page carries the monthly figures.

2. Longs, 8.5 percent gross

Rent is what puts Longs second here; on price alone it would sit ninth of 20. The numbers: $282,990 median closed price across 295 closings, $1,999 median asking rent across 200 listings, 8.5 percent gross. See the Longs page for the property mix and the price band.

3. Woodruff, 8.5 percent gross

At $268,950 to buy and $1,895 a month to rent, Woodruff yields 8.5 percent gross on 210 tracked closings. Houses there closed at about $150 per square foot. See the Woodruff page for the property mix and the price band.

4. Myrtle Beach, 8.4 percent gross

Myrtle Beach's confirmed-close median, $1,895 on 87 closes, sits close to its $1,850 asking median; the samples are separate, so read it as agreement between two medians rather than a validated yield. The numbers: $263,500 median closed price across 1,132 closings, $1,850 median asking rent across 3,354 listings, 8.4 percent gross. The Myrtle Beach market page carries the monthly figures.

5. Hardeeville, 8.4 percent gross

Rent is what puts Hardeeville fifth here; on price alone it would sit twentieth of 20. At $400,000 to buy and $2,795 a month to rent, Hardeeville yields 8.4 percent gross on 241 tracked closings. Houses there closed at about $245 per square foot. See the Hardeeville page for the property mix and the price band.

6. West Columbia, 8.2 percent gross

At $235,000 to buy and $1,600 a month to rent, West Columbia yields 8.2 percent gross on 254 tracked closings. Houses there closed at about $158 per square foot. The West Columbia market page carries the monthly figures.

7. Spartanburg, 8.1 percent gross

Spartanburg is cheaper than its yield rank suggests: first on price, seventh on yield, because a $221,500 home there rents for only $1,498. Homes in Spartanburg closed at a median of $221,500 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,498, a gross yield of 8.1 percent. Houses there closed at about $142 per square foot. See the Spartanburg page for the property mix and the price band.

8. York, 8.1 percent gross

Rent is what puts York eighth here; on price alone it would sit thirteenth of 20. Homes in York closed at a median of $289,500 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,950, a gross yield of 8.1 percent. Houses there closed at about $158 per square foot. Full detail is on the York market page.

9. Boiling Springs, 8.0 percent gross

Homes in Boiling Springs closed at a median of $270,000 over the last twelve months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,800, a gross yield of 8.0 percent. Full detail is on the Boiling Springs market page.

10. Conway, 8.0 percent gross

Conway is one of the cities with a confirmed-close sample: 41 closes with a median of $1,795 beside a $1,875 asking median, a 4 percent difference between two separate samples, not a measured gap on the same listings. The numbers: $282,440 median closed price across 398 closings, $1,875 median asking rent across 805 listings, 8.0 percent gross. See the Conway page for the property mix and the price band.

11. Columbia, 7.9 percent gross

A low entry price does not carry Columbia far: it is fourth cheapest on this list and eleventh on yield, with rent of $1,695 against a $257,750 median price. Homes in Columbia closed at a median of $257,750 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,695, a gross yield of 7.9 percent. Full detail is on the Columbia market page.

12. Summerville, 7.9 percent gross

Rent is what puts Summerville twelfth here; on price alone it would sit nineteenth of 20. Homes in Summerville closed at a median of $365,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $2,395, a gross yield of 7.9 percent. See the Summerville page for the property mix and the price band.

13. Easley, 7.8 percent gross

Homes in Easley closed at a median of $285,996 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,870, a gross yield of 7.8 percent. Full detail is on the Easley market page.

14. Moncks Corner, 7.8 percent gross

Rent is what puts Moncks Corner fourteenth here; on price alone it would sit eighteenth of 20. Homes in Moncks Corner closed at a median of $360,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $2,350, a gross yield of 7.8 percent. Houses there closed at about $178 per square foot. Full detail is on the Moncks Corner market page.

15. Piedmont, 7.8 percent gross

At $290,000 to buy and $1,885 a month to rent, Piedmont yields 7.8 percent gross on 185 tracked closings. Houses there closed at about $147 per square foot. The Piedmont market page carries the monthly figures.

16. Goose Creek, 7.8 percent gross

At $339,990 to buy and $2,200 a month to rent, Goose Creek yields 7.8 percent gross on 359 tracked closings. The Goose Creek market page carries the monthly figures.

17. Taylors, 7.5 percent gross

A low entry price does not carry Taylors far: it is eleventh cheapest on this list and seventeenth on yield, with rent of $1,779 against a $285,250 median price. The numbers: $285,250 median closed price across 212 closings, $1,779 median asking rent across 355 listings, 7.5 percent gross. The Taylors market page carries the monthly figures.

18. North Charleston, 7.4 percent gross

Homes in North Charleston closed at a median of $330,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $2,025, a gross yield of 7.4 percent. Houses there closed at about $215 per square foot. See the North Charleston page for the property mix and the price band.

19. Lexington, 7.3 percent gross

Lexington is cheaper than its yield rank suggests: fifteenth on price, nineteenth on yield, because a $322,450 home there rents for only $1,975. The numbers: $322,450 median closed price across 182 closings, $1,975 median asking rent across 876 listings, 7.3 percent gross. Houses there closed at about $166 per square foot. The Lexington market page carries the monthly figures.

20. Little River, 7.3 percent gross

Little River also carries a confirmed-close median: 43 confirmed lease closes in the last twelve months have a median of $1,550, 10 percent below the $1,725 asking median. The two samples are not paired, so this describes the samples rather than the same homes. Homes in Little River closed at a median of $283,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,725, a gross yield of 7.3 percent. See the Little River page for the property mix and the price band.

How this ranking is built

• •Cities: every South Carolina city where Resideline tracked at least 100 closings inside the municipal boundary in its reporting window (six or twelve months) and at least 50 rental listings under the city's name since October 3, 2025: 53 cities qualify and the table shows the 20 highest-yielding.
• •Prices: the median price homes closed at inside the city limits, from Resideline's tracked closings; the state comparison uses the statewide median of $339,900 across 53,671 closings.
• •Rents: the median advertised rent on rental listings Resideline tracked in the last twelve months, all property types, measured on the listings that carry the city's name (a postal footprint, wider than the city line in some places).
• •Confirmed-close medians: Observed rent blends two kinds of record: confirmed lease closes extracted from property records, and the final asking rent on listings that left Resideline tracking without a recorded close. Where a city has at least 30 confirmed closes in the window, their median is printed beside the asking figure; in the last twelve months about a quarter of Resideline's close episodes are confirmed closes. The asking and confirmed-close samples are separate, not paired, so a difference between their medians is not a measured gap on the same listings.
• •What is missing: taxes, insurance, vacancy, management and repairs, which turn a gross yield into a net one, and the unit mix, which differs between what sells and what rents.

Sources and related pages

• •Resideline tracked closings inside city limits (window per city, updated October 4, 2026) and rental listings since October 3, 2025; confirmed lease closes extracted from property records.
• •More South Carolina rankings: Cheapest cities to buy a house in South Carolina ranks the same kind of list with each city's price per square foot for houses, realized appreciation and days to contract beside the median, and Cap Rate by City ranks the South Carolina cities Resideline tracks by gross rental yield. The South Carolina housing market hub carries the statewide figures and the largest South Carolina markets by closings.
• •Asking rent vs observed rent compares live asking rents with final asking rents under that study's own definition; it says nothing about confirmed lease closes.

Prepared with Resideline's research pipeline and reviewed by Jeffrey Batista, Resideline's founder.