Folly Beach is a very small coastal city (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of South Carolina. With a population of 2,084 people and just one neighborhood, Folly Beach is the 133rd largest community in South Carolina.
Folly Beach home prices are not only among the most expensive in South Carolina, but Folly Beach real estate also consistently ranks among the most expensive in America.
Unlike some cities where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, Folly Beach is neither predominantly one nor the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Folly Beach is a city of professionals, sales and office workers, and managers. There are especially a lot of people living in Folly Beach who work in office and administrative support (20.61%), legal occupations (19.18%), and sales jobs (11.84%).
One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 28.57% of the workforce. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce this is high compared to the rest of the county. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes.
Another notable thing is that Folly Beach is an extremely popular destination for tourists and seasonal residents. So much of the population is seasonal such that the city’s population swells significantly during the vacation season, and drops again when the season ends. Because of this, much of the local economy is centered around tourism; some businesses may be operated only during the high season. During the low season, year-round residents will notice that the city is a substantially quieter place to live.
It is a fairly quiet city because there are relatively few of those groups of people who have a tendency to be noisy. (Children, for example, often can't help themselves from being noisy, and being parents ourselves, we know!) Folly Beach has relatively few families with children living at home, and is quieter because of it. Renters and college students, for their own reasons, can also be noisy. Folly Beach has few renters and college students. But the biggest reason it is quieter in Folly Beach than in most places in America, is that there are just simply fewer people living here. If you think trees make good neighbors, Folly Beach may be for you.
Folly Beach is also nautical, which means that parts of it are somewhat historic and touch the ocean or tidal bodies of water, such as inlets and bays. Such areas are often places that visitors and locals go for waterfront activities or taking in the scenery.
One downside of living in Folly Beach, however, is that residents on average have to contend with a long commute, spending on average 30.56 minutes every day commuting to work.
Being a small city, Folly Beach does not have a public transit system used by locals to get to and from work.
Folly Beach is one of the most well-educated cities in the nation. 43.57% of adults in Folly Beach have at least a bachelor's degree. Compare that to the average community in America, which has just 21.84% with a bachelor's degree or higher.
The per capita income in Folly Beach in 2022 was $61,847, which is wealthy relative to South Carolina and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $247,388 for a family of four. However, Folly Beach contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
The people who call Folly Beach home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Folly Beach residents report their race to be White. Important ancestries of people in Folly Beach include German, Irish, English, Italian, and Scottish.
The most common language spoken in Folly Beach is English. Other important languages spoken here include Italian and Polish.
Many things matter about a neighborhood, but the first thing most people notice is the way a neighborhood looks and its particular character. For example, one might notice whether the buildings all date from a certain time period or whether shop signs are in multiple languages. This particular neighborhood in Folly Beach, the neighborhood, has some outstanding things about the way it looks and its way of life that are worth highlighting.
Do you like a coastal setting? If so, this neighborhood may be to your liking. The neighborhood is on the ocean, a bay, or inlet. Often such coastal places have amenities and recreational activities on the waterfront that are attractive to residents and visitors alike. In addition to being coastal, is a very nautical neighborhood, meaning that it is somewhat historic, walkable, densely populated and on the water. This gives the neighborhood a very nautical feel, with some seaside and shipping feel, which some may really enjoy the sights and sounds of.
In addition, despite all of the residential real estate here in the neighborhood, NeighborhoodScout has discovered that much of it is vacant. In resort or second-home vacation areas, this naturally occurs because homes and apartments are seasonally occupied, and empty for a portion of the year. In non-vacation or resort areas, however, this can be an indicator of property abandonment or a weak real estate market. The vacancy rate here is 78.9%, which is higher than 99.9% of all U.S. neighborhoods.
Of note is NeighborhoodScout's research finding that the neighborhood has some of the lowest rates of children living in poverty of any neighborhood in the United States. In a nation where approximately 1 in 4 children are living in poverty, the community truly stands out from the rest in this regard.
In addition, if you are planning to retire in South Carolina, this neighborhood should be on your must-see list. For many reasons, may be considered a retiree's dream neighborhood. According to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis and metrics, it's peaceful and quiet, has above average safety from crime compared to other neighborhoods in South Carolina, while also offering a diverse range of housing options. This, along with the vibrant mix of very educated seniors and other age groups who choose to live here, makes the neighborhood more retiree-friendly than 97.2% of neighborhoods in SC. If a South Carolina retirement is in your future, this neighborhood should be one of the places you visit.
Did you know that the neighborhood has more Scottish and Eastern European ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 8.6% of this neighborhood's residents have Scottish ancestry and 3.2% have Eastern European ancestry.
There are two complementary measures for understanding the income of a neighborhood's residents: the average and the extremes. While a neighborhood may be relatively wealthy overall, it is equally important to understand the rate of people - particularly children - who are living at or below the federal poverty line, which is extremely low income. Some neighborhoods with a lower average income may actually have a lower childhood poverty rate than another with a higher average income, and this helps us understand the conditions and character of a neighborhood.
The neighbors in the neighborhood in Folly Beach are upper-middle income, making it an above average income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 67.3% of the neighborhoods in America. In addition, 0.0% of the children seventeen and under living in this neighborhood are living below the federal poverty line, which is a lower rate of childhood poverty than is found in 100.0% of America's neighborhoods.
What we choose to do for a living reflects who we are. Each neighborhood has a different mix of occupations represented, and together these tell you about the neighborhood and help you understand if this neighborhood may fit your lifestyle.
In the neighborhood, 40.8% of the working population is employed in executive, management, and professional occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations, with 32.2% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants (20.4%), and 6.7% in manufacturing and laborer occupations.
The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 100.0% of households. Some people also speak Italian (2.9%).
Culture is shared learned behavior. We learn it from our parents, their parents, our houses of worship, and much of our culture – our learned behavior – comes from our ancestors. That is why ancestry and ethnicity can be so interesting and important to understand: places with concentrations of people of one or more ancestries often express those shared learned behaviors and this gives each neighborhood its own culture. Even different neighborhoods in the same city can have drastically different cultures.
In the neighborhood in Folly Beach, SC, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as German (16.7%). There are also a number of people of Irish ancestry (13.9%), and residents who report Italian roots (11.0%), and some of the residents are also of English ancestry (8.9%), along with some Scottish ancestry residents (8.6%), among others.
How you get to work – car, bus, train or other means – and how much of your day it takes to do so is a large quality of life and financial issue. Especially with gasoline prices rising and expected to continue doing so, the length and means of one's commute can be a financial burden. Some neighborhoods are physically located so that many residents have to drive in their own car, others are set up so many walk to work, or can take a train, bus, or bike. The greatest number of commuters in neighborhood spend between 30 and 45 minutes commuting one-way to work (46.2% of working residents), which is at or a bit above the average length of a commute across all U.S. neighborhoods.
Here most residents (79.0%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.