We lived in Charleston for a year, but it was too expensive and crowded. Now, we’re happily settled 2 hours north.

Charleston is beautiful and wildly popular, but it can also be an expensive place to live. 

I’ve traveled a lot and lived in many places, from Frankfurt to New York City. But at my core, I’m a native South Carolinian and I’ve lived all over the state throughout the years.

So, I wasn’t surprised to find Charleston at No. 9 on US News & World Report’s list of the 15 best places to live in the South. It really is a great place, with its thriving economy, culture and arts scene, beautiful beaches, and many restaurants and bars.

My wife and I lived in a rental on James Island, a few miles from downtown Charleston, for a year from late 2020 to 2021.

We liked the area so much we intended to eventually buy a house there — but we later learned living there wasn’t feasible for us in the long run.

Although it’s a great place to visit, we’ve found a smaller town in South Carolina to be a much better fit for us.

Charleston’s popularity meant it could get pretty congested

The city’s population growth in recent years and its reputation as one of the best cities to visit in the US means getting around wasn’t always easy when we lived there.

I found that a combination of the region’s geography, tourists, and dense population could regularly transform a quick errand into a traffic nightmare.

For example, our neighborhood was close to a drawbridge, which clogged traffic on nearby roads anytime a large boat passed through.

When the bridge was down, a trip to the grocery store less than 2 miles from our home could take 20 minutes. If the bridge was open and blocking traffic, the same round trip might take an hour or more.

Traffic can be an issue in any heavily populated city, but it did make us wonder if we’d be better off living further outside of Charleston instead of in it.

The city’s great features also came with a steep price tag

We loved living in Charleston, but it wasn’t sustainable for us in the long run.

Our cost of living in Charleston was tough to stomach, too.

The city is one of the most expensive on the aforementioned list of the best places to live in the South. According to data from Zillow and Realtor.com, its median home price is a whopping $635,000 and average rent is almost $2,000 a month.

Our experience seemed about on par. The house we rented in Charleston was less than 900 square feet and cost us $2,100 a month even though it badly needed a renovation.

When we eventually went shopping for a home to purchase, the sticker shock forced us to reevaluate our plans.

Homes in our neighborhood on James Island rarely went on the market. When they did, bidding wars were not uncommon, and even small houses were well out of our price range.

Many three-bedroom homes in the Charleston area have recently sold for $500,000 or more — some for over $1 million, according to Redfin.

We’re now in a smaller South Carolina city, where our everyday life is pretty good

Florence has a smaller population than Charleston. 

After almost a year, we decided that the traffic, crowds, and cost of living in the Charleston area were not for us.

We moved two hours north to Columbia, the city where we’d raised our kids. After about three years there, a fantastic in-person career opportunity came up for my wife and took us to Florence, South Carolina.

Florence is in the northeastern portion of South Carolina, about 90 minutes from the Myrtle Beach area and two hours from Charleston. It’s home to about 40,000 people — less than a third of Charleston’s population.

It doesn’t quite have the endless dining and shopping options or buzzing social scene that larger Southern cities like Charleston offer — but housing is more affordable. The median home listing price in Florence is $265,000 and median rent is $1,350 a month.

We were able to purchase a three-bedroom, two-bath, 2,300-square-foot home for about $300,000 in a cozy and convenient area.

Our city is smaller but still has a lot to offer. Our neighbors are friendly, and we can walk or jog for miles on well-maintained, tree-lined streets.

There are three grocery stores less than 10 minutes away from our new neighborhood and our access to healthcare is more than adequate. We’ve got tons of parks and trails in our area and several nice places to eat.

We’ve been here for over six months now, and we’re very happy. Florence is no Charleston in many ways, but for everyday life, it’s pretty great.