Lancaster, South Carolina.
Typical home $285,326 (+0.4% in a year), asking rent $1,431 . Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$791 (+112%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $1,068 +0%
- $284,258$285,326 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $32,486 +13%
- $252,840$285,326 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.
- Lancaster$1,498
- South Carolina$1,597
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 29 years.
Typical home values in Lancaster, SC rose 0.4% over the past year — slower than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Lancaster, Lancaster County, South Carolina
Lancaster is a city of 8,460 people in Lancaster County. Half its households earn more than $46,311 a year and half less, against $78,869 across Lancaster County; 21% of its people live below the poverty line. 50% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 50% are rented. Unemployment in Lancaster County was 4.5% in August 2026, and the county had 3.5% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then manufacturing.
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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Lancaster is a small South Carolina city where the typical resident is middle-aged. Household incomes run well below the county's, and more people live below the poverty line than most would expect to find. Homes are split evenly between owners and renters, and the typical rent is not far from what a mortgage would cost on a typical home. Winters are mild and cool rather than harsh, summers are hot, and rain and melted snow fall steadily through the year.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, with manufacturing, restaurants and hotels, and shops also employing a good share. Among the largest workplaces in Lancaster are Lancaster 01 Schools, Lancaster County Government and MUSC Health Lancaster Medical Center. Unemployment across Lancaster County has eased over the past year, and the county has added jobs. A typical commute is a modest drive, and few people work from home.
Things to do. A short drive away, Landsford Canal State Park is a protected area and Fishing Creek Reservoir offers time on the water. Andrew Jackson State Park, also a short drive away, is a museum tied to the story of a former president. Those ready for a longer drive can head to Carowinds, an amusement park.
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- 3,646households
- 21%of adults have a degree
- 21%below the poverty line
- 26 mintypical commute
- 6%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Lancaster County had 29,090 jobs in 2025, 3.5% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 54° and lows near 33°; warmest in July, with highs near 91° and lows near 70°. About 43 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Winthrop Univ weather station, 20 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Lancaster
- Lancaster 01 SchoolsSchool district2,113FTE
- Lancaster County GovernmentExecutive and legislative office combinations1,065
- Musc Health Lancaster Medical CenterGeneral hospital518FTE
- University of South Carolina-LancasterTwo-year college181
- Builders Supply CompanyHome centers, building materials98
- Compass Group94
- Food LionGrocery stores92
- LancasterMail and parcel delivery63
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 11 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 2,621 people in all. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24), hospitals from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023) and colleges from IPEDS (NCES, 2023–24); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. 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
- Ice stormsRelatively high
- Strong windRelatively high
- Cold wavesRelatively high
- TornadoesRelatively high
- LightningRelatively high
- Inland floodingRelatively high
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Lancaster’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively moderate. 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 Lancaster County and the Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC metro.
Lancaster home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Lancaster$285,326
- South Carolina$304,319
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 3 Lancaster listings, and the typical home goes pending in 64 days — the market is roughly in balance.
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.
- Lancaster29.67%
- United States26.90%
Days to pending
How long the typical listing takes to go under contract.
- Lancaster64
- United States24
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Lancaster344
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Lancaster76
Median sale price
What buyers actually paid — closed sales, not asking prices.
- Lancaster$324,158
- United States$371,407
Zip codes with a Lancaster address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Lancaster — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.