Gaston, South Carolina.
Typical home $149,735 (-1.1% in a year), asking rent $1,625 . Columbia, SC metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$354 (+82%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Down $1,741 -1%
- $151,476$149,735 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $1,892 +1%
- $147,843$149,735 since Sep 2021
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Gaston$786
- South Carolina$1,597
- United States$1,922
Typical home values in Gaston, SC fell 1.1% over the past year — slower than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Gaston, Lexington County, South Carolina
Gaston is a town of 1,608 people in Lexington County. 71% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 29% are rented. Unemployment in Lexington County was 3.8% in August 2026, and the county had 1.3% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in construction, then schools and health care.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Gaston is a small town in Lexington County, with a median age a little above the national middle and most homes lived in by their owners. Typical home values are modest, though typical rents run fairly high beside them. Winters are cool and rarely bring snow, summers are hot, and rain falls through the year.
Work. Many residents work in the building trades, in schools, hospitals and social care, in manufacturing, and in shops. In town, Diamond Pet Food Processors of South Carolina, Food Lion and Floco Foods are among the largest workplaces. Fewer adults than across much of the country hold a four-year degree, and the typical commute is a fairly long one.
Things to do. Columbia Speedway, a race track, is a short drive away. Farther afield, Congaree National Park and Lake Murray, a reservoir, are both a longer drive away, and Riverbanks Zoo is another longer drive for a day out.
Report a mistake
- 806households
- 11%of adults have a degree
- 18%below the poverty line
- 27 mintypical commute
- 9%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Lexington County had 134,271 jobs in 2025, 1.3% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 57° and lows near 35°; warmest in July, with highs near 93° and lows near 72°. About 1 inches of snow and 45 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Columbia weather station, 9 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Gaston
- Diamond Pet Food Processors of South CarolinaAnimal feed mills, dog and cat, manufacturing176
- Food LionGrocery stores73
- Floco FoodsGrocery stores35
- GastonMail and parcel delivery28
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 4 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 312 people in all. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- TornadoesRelatively high
- Ice stormsRelatively moderate
- Strong windRelatively moderate
- LightningRelatively moderate
- Heat wavesRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Gaston’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively low. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on Lexington County and the Columbia, SC metro.
Gaston home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Gaston$149,735
- South Carolina$304,319
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 3 Gaston listings — the market is cooling.
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Share of listings with a price cut
The early-warning dial: sellers cut when buyers stop reaching. Rising cuts cool a market months before prices notice.
- Gaston31.04%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Gaston47
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Gaston15
Zip codes with a Gaston address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Gaston — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.