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 $220,000 and ranks fifth; Irmo, where a $225,000 home asks $1,998 a month, ranks first at 10.7 percent gross. Woodruff follows at 8.6 percent, on a $265,900 median price and $1,900 in asking rent. Myrtle Beach, the busiest market on the list with about 205 closings a month, sits seventh of 20 at 8.1 percent. For three of these cities the page also shows a confirmed-close median; in Myrtle Beach, 98 confirmed lease closes carry a median of $1,898 against a $1,800 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 $282,245 here against $340,000 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, 10.7 percent gross

At $225,000 to buy and $1,998 a month to rent, Irmo yields 10.7 percent gross on 172 tracked closings. Houses there closed at about $138 per square foot. The Irmo market page carries the monthly figures.

2. Woodruff, 8.6 percent gross

Woodruff ranks second on yield but only seventh on entry price: the $1,900 median asking rent is doing the work, not a cheap purchase. At $265,900 to buy and $1,900 a month to rent, Woodruff yields 8.6 percent gross on 221 tracked closings. Houses there closed at about $151 per square foot. See the Woodruff page for the property mix and the price band.

3. Hardeeville, 8.5 percent gross

Rent is what puts Hardeeville third here; on price alone it would sit twentieth of 20. At $395,000 to buy and $2,800 a month to rent, Hardeeville yields 8.5 percent gross on 263 tracked closings. Houses there closed at about $254 per square foot. See the Hardeeville page for the property mix and the price band.

4. Longs, 8.4 percent gross

Rent is what puts Longs fourth here; on price alone it would sit twelfth of 20. The numbers: $286,750 median closed price across 302 closings, $1,999 median asking rent across 179 listings, 8.4 percent gross. See the Longs page for the property mix and the price band.

5. Spartanburg, 8.2 percent gross

Spartanburg is cheaper than its yield rank suggests: first on price, fifth on yield, because a $220,000 home there rents for only $1,500. Homes in Spartanburg closed at a median of $220,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,500, a gross yield of 8.2 percent. Houses there closed at about $141 per square foot. See the Spartanburg page for the property mix and the price band.

6. Boiling Springs, 8.2 percent gross

Homes in Boiling Springs closed at a median of $265,000 over the last twelve months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,800, a gross yield of 8.2 percent. Full detail is on the Boiling Springs market page.

7. Myrtle Beach, 8.1 percent gross

Myrtle Beach is one of the cities with a confirmed-close sample: 98 closes with a median of $1,898 beside a $1,800 asking median, a 5 percent difference between two separate samples, not a measured gap on the same listings. The numbers: $266,750 median closed price across 1,232 closings, $1,800 median asking rent across 3,087 listings, 8.1 percent gross. The Myrtle Beach market page carries the monthly figures.

8. York, 8.0 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 $290,750 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,950, a gross yield of 8.0 percent. Houses there closed at about $159 per square foot. Full detail is on the York market page.

9. West Columbia, 8.0 percent gross

A low entry price does not carry West Columbia far: it is third cheapest on this list and ninth on yield, with rent of $1,600 against a $239,500 median price. At $239,500 to buy and $1,600 a month to rent, West Columbia yields 8.0 percent gross on 248 tracked closings. Houses there closed at about $159 per square foot. The West Columbia market page carries the monthly figures.

10. Columbia, 8.0 percent gross

A low entry price does not carry Columbia far: it is fourth cheapest on this list and tenth on yield, with rent of $1,695 against a $255,000 median price. Homes in Columbia closed at a median of $255,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,695, a gross yield of 8.0 percent. Full detail is on the Columbia market page.

11. Conway, 7.9 percent gross

In Conway the two samples agree: 48 confirmed lease closes have a median of $1,800, within a few percent of the $1,850 asking median, though the samples are separate rather than paired. The numbers: $279,990 median closed price across 443 closings, $1,850 median asking rent across 771 listings, 7.9 percent gross. See the Conway page for the property mix and the price band.

12. Goose Creek, 7.9 percent gross

Rent is what puts Goose Creek twelfth here; on price alone it would sit seventeenth of 20. At $335,000 to buy and $2,200 a month to rent, Goose Creek yields 7.9 percent gross on 361 tracked closings. The Goose Creek market page carries the monthly figures.

13. Piedmont, 7.8 percent gross

At $290,802 to buy and $1,900 a month to rent, Piedmont yields 7.8 percent gross on 190 tracked closings. Houses there closed at about $148 per square foot. The Piedmont market page carries the monthly figures.

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. Summerville, 7.7 percent gross

Rent is what puts Summerville fifteenth here; on price alone it would sit nineteenth of 20. Homes in Summerville closed at a median of $370,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $2,375, a gross yield of 7.7 percent. See the Summerville page for the property mix and the price band.

16. Little River, 7.7 percent gross

Little River also carries a confirmed-close median: 50 confirmed lease closes in the last twelve months have a median of $1,550, 9 percent below the $1,700 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 $265,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,700, a gross yield of 7.7 percent. See the Little River page for the property mix and the price band.

17. Inman, 7.6 percent gross

A low entry price does not carry Inman far: it is ninth cheapest on this list and seventeenth on yield, with rent of $1,745 against a $275,000 median price. At $275,000 to buy and $1,745 a month to rent, Inman yields 7.6 percent gross on 111 tracked closings. Houses there closed at about $154 per square foot. The Inman market page carries the monthly figures.

18. Easley, 7.5 percent gross

Homes in Easley closed at a median of $298,499 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,875, a gross yield of 7.5 percent. Full detail is on the Easley market page.

19. Ladson, 7.5 percent gross

Homes in Ladson went under contract in a median of 10 days, so a buyer chasing its 7.5 percent yield needs financing ready before the search. The numbers: $320,000 median closed price across 167 closings, $2,000 median asking rent across 341 listings, 7.5 percent gross. Full detail is on the Ladson market page.

20. Taylors, 7.5 percent gross

A low entry price does not carry Taylors far: it is eleventh cheapest on this list and twentieth on yield, with rent of $1,775 against a $284,500 median price. The numbers: $284,500 median closed price across 226 closings, $1,775 median asking rent across 328 listings, 7.5 percent gross. The Taylors market page carries the monthly figures.

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 September 10, 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 $340,000 across 56,147 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 September 10, 2026) and rental listings since September 10, 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.