9 Best Places To Live In South Carolina In 2025

Aiken boasts awesome accessibility to big cities, especially with Augusta just 30 minutes to the south and Columbia an easy one hour away. This means you can stay in Aiken while working in either city. Aiken itself is a quiet, family-friendly town with lots of delicious local restaurants, fun golf courses, and a decent library with an impressive collection of good reads. Golfers have Palmetto Golf Club, the mind-bending Old Barnwell, and the Aiken Golf Club, all stellar options, all incredibly beautiful, swoon-worthy places. The burglary rate in Aiken is 3 per 100,000 residents, which is significantly lower than the statewide rate. Moreover, you are at the doorstep of Aiken Regional Medical Centers and a heartbeat away from the highly ranked Piedmont Augusta. The exciting part is that you can own a house on the cheap, especially considering houses sell for a median price of $356,567 USD.