Living in GREENVILLE vs. COLUMBIA, South Carolina | Should I Move to Greenville or Columbia, SC?

[@brandongaronteam]

Hey all, it's Brandon! Don't hesitate to schedule at chat with us at brandongaron.com if you are looking for more info about the area!

[@forloveofcats8683]

Greenville to me seems like one of the safest, cleanest cities in the US, with many unique small businesses, and the suburbs seem like great places for families. I would say for affordability, check out the outskirts of Spartanville, like Boiling Springs, Woodruff, or the towns of Laurens, Clinton, Joanna, Fountain Inn, Cross Hill, Waterloo in Laurens County or Newberry in Newberry County-there are nice homes for under $150,000. Lexington and Irmo are beautiful and near Lake Murray with much new construction-would be good place for retirees looking for townhouse. I haven't explored Columbia too much, but the River Walk and Arts area are very nice too. I'm surprised he didn't mention the women's basketball team and the botanical gardens of Columbia. They say Greenville is more conservative than Columbia. Its hard to tell, much diversity and something for everyone in both, and I meet many people from all over moving to these areas. More palm trees in Columbia-just feels more tropical. Greenville is closer to Ashville (Smokey Mountains), Charlotte, Atlanta and Chattanooga, TN. Columbia is closer to beaches and Charlestown, but also coastal storms. All in all, its a wonderful state with great small towns, wonderful weather and lovely people.

[@brandongaronteam]

USC Women's Basketball have done phenomenal over the past few years. Dawn Staley has been dominate as Coach!. Unfortunately it seems to be a local sensation, as many people have not started talking about their dominance, outside the state. I hope that changes. Unfortunately, as stated, crime is pretty comparable between Columbia and Greenville and both do not have great stats. Obviously it is based on reported crime and there can be some misrepresentation in that. They both have plenty of pros and cons.

[@brandongaronteam]

I was not, I specifically pulled stats from Greenville. I shared the resources in the description.

[@brandongaronteam]

You said, "I think you are referring to Spartanburg." Spartanburg crime stats are far worse than Columbia and Greenville, I gave y'all the benefit of the doubt and picked Greenville. They do separate them on these sites.

[@forloveofcats8683]

@@brandongaronteam I just looked up the 2024 Niche ratings: Columbia, Greenville and Spartanburg County are all rated "A" so all are excellent places to live. Spartanburg city is rated A-, mainly due to crime section at C- which did bring the total score down (so you are correct), but the suburbs are so nice. If you like having horses or riding horses, I will promote my home town of Joanna, that recently announced a partnership with the Nature Conservancy to create a horse trail and preserve the forests for future generations to enjoy.

[@orgrichard]

⁠@@brandongaronteamthe most recent crime statistics for SC posted on the SLED website, for 2022, do not show Spartanburg County’s crime statistics to the highest in the state. The city of Spartanburg once sued Neighborhood Scout for publishing crime statistics for the city based on data drawn from a larger area than the city. The city of Spartanburg police is one of 2 departments in the state, the other is Columbia, that has implemented Real Time Crime technology.

[@randa04rod]

Greenville is by far the best city in the state, the upstate period is the best region it’s not even close, as a sc native the upstate is the most popular and populated for a reason

[@brandongaronteam]

Charleston is statistically more popular, but appreciate the perspective.

[@PraiseGod428]

Charleston is beautiful, but houses, the nice ones are expensive! And the hurricanes are awful!

[@leadbyexample78]

Greenville doesn’t come close to Charleston 😂…

[@PraiseGod428]

@@leadbyexample78 Charleston is beautiful. Imo it’s a nice place to visit but I wouldn’t want to live there. Too close to storms.

[@robertkeller9828]

And overdue for a major earthquake.​@@PraiseGod428

[@theadventuresoftherestedtr3518]

Riverbanks Zoo vs. Greenville Zoo: The Greenville Zoo is very nice, but it is tiny. We used to live in Travelers Rest and took our kids to the Greenville Zoo frequently. That being said, we would often make the trek down to Columbia to go to the Riverbanks Zoo because it was so amazing. There’s no comparison. It’s akin to driving to Colorado Springs to go to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo even though the one we have here in Denver is so nice. As you can see from my avatar (San Diego Zoo), we know our zoos and we’ve been to quite a few. Riverbanks is the better of the two there in SC. One last note: the Fireflies are Low-A (like the Riverdogs). The Drive and Spartanburgers are both High-A. Gotta give the edge to Greenville on that one. Fluor Field is an exact replica of Fenway Park in Boston, too…haven’t been to Segra yet…but I’m sure I will when we move to Lake Carolina this spring. ;-)

[@brandongaronteam]

Thanks for the honest review! So when Fireflies first started they were Class A with the Mets, at some point they switched to Single A with the KC Royals.

[@SoftwareManiacLSM]

Good review. Fair. Thanks for posting.

[@brandongaronteam]

Thanks for watching! Tried to give the best unbiased opinion!!

[@robertwylie9743]

You do a great job with your reviews. Keep up the great work 👍🏾

[@brandongaronteam]

I appreciate that!

[@ShondaD_]

This is such a great informative video! I am looking to relocate to either Greenville SC, Charlotte or Durham NC and you video has helped me get a perspective on how living in Greenville is. Thank you 😊

[@brandongaronteam]

Glad it was helpful!

[@Luanavit22]

Great video. Thank you 😊

[@brandongaronteam]

Thanks for watching!

[@originalk9111]

Great video man

[@brandongaronteam]

Thanks for watching!! Appreciate it!

[@joelsandler1119]

Thank you. I'm considering both places.

[@brandongaronteam]

Awesome, glad it helped!

[@GiaBlinks]

You talked about the most expensive homes, and those prices tell me what I need to know about cost of living comparison but, which suburbs/small towns should lower income families look into? Ones that have a good variety of stores for basic living. I want to be close to groceries, gas, basic clothes... but am willing to drive further to access a larger city's amenities. So, in other words, not so rural that everything is a long drive away, but far enough from a big city to feel like a small town with enough essentials to live conveniently.

[@brandongaronteam]

If you want to reach out to us at brandongaron.com we can definitely look at your budget and see where in the midlands of SC might work. As far as Greenville, we do not cover Greenville, so I am not entirely familiar with all their suburbs.

[@dennisc6716]

My mother's family is from Columbia so it didn't take too many hot summer days there to know I never want to live in that area.

[@samconyers3591]

Greenville is a lot nicer everyone. I prefer Columbia though as I lived there for 11 years. It’s home.

[@brandongaronteam]

Thank you for the insight!

[@vistabadboi]

I lived in the Vista for years and never had any issues !

[@brandongaronteam]

Good to know!! Thanks for your insight.

[@nicholaspowell7931]

Upstate has Micheline, BMW, and now Arthrex which is one of the best companies to work for.

[@Jrlopez-wv8wb]

Greenville is the largest county and metropolitan area in South Carolina and a CSA of 1.5k, number 40 in the nation. Anyone who has lived in a big city knows that a city is known by its metropolitan area, not by its city limits or boundaries. Those who think that Charlotte is bigger than Atlanta or Jacksonville is bigger than Miami just because of the city limits, don't tell me that Charleston or Culumbia Greenville is by far the most populated with the most people in square miles despite its 29 square meters. Or do you think that a town of 75k that will have top golf? Maybe Columbia has it?

[@brandongaronteam]

Thanks for your insight and spin on this, I’ll check out your videos to see how you break down the areas.

[@neb___]

@@brandongaronteamdang, great comeback

[@whitedobie]

Interviewed with a very old ad agency in Columbia a couple years ago. It was a disaster. Their original owners had sold the place to the staff and it was really just a PR shop with a new CEO out of NC. Decided against moving there and ended up in Greenville!

[@frankieC1023]

NEITHER! Charleston is where it`s at!

[@brandongaronteam]

I do plan to compare to Charleston as there are plenty of great things about it! The biggest negatives I hear is cost of housing, hurricanes, flood plains and traffic.

[@xero402]

Greenville is home and I love it here. Still , there are some places in Columbia that I love to visit.The zoo is great.There are many great restaurants in Columbia. I find the restaurants in Greenville to be a bit too upscale for a simple Southern boy.

[@nicholaspowell7931]

Lake Hartwell is just a bit smaller in coastline

[@reybigg811]

For all the scouters moving to the area, what areas are families buying houses with 1 -3 acres?

[@brandongaronteam]

Scouters? As in Scout Employees? If so, haven’t had any buying on acreage, mostly neighborhoods. Outside that I’ve had people buy homes with land in Elgin, Chapin, Lexington and others.

[@johngeorgewashington1416]

How about the Forst Time Homebuyer Programs..does one city best the other or county..

[@brandongaronteam]

First time home buyer programs are state funded, so there shouldn’t be a difference in what is available. Some programs have different income caps based on the county, but that is based on average income, so it is relative.

[@nicholaspowell7931]

the reason for GSP being bigger is the flight planes

[@bensocci]

I love both cities. Columbia definitely has more palm trees. I can't remember if greenville has any palms.

[@brandongaronteam]

Palms don’t do well in cold weather, you have to prep them for it. Might be too cold in the winter to plant them in Greenville.

[@xero402]

People plant them here , but they don’t do well.

[@wm8673]

It is Palmetto

[@JJacobs803]

Greenville is definitely a huge suburb compared to Columbia. i use to always take day trips to Charleston to go to the beach you forgot about the Chappelle Auditorium at Allen University

[@IvanLopez-cw5xq]

Greenville is the county and metropolitan area and the country's 40th largest CSA in South Carolina. Don't be fooled by South Carolina's annexation laws.

[@jarvisstradford7211]

I like Colombia Skyline better than Greenville but they downtown is better than Columbia. I think Columbia traffic is worse than Greenville especially Interstate 20 in Interstate 26. I think Colombia population is bigger than that cuz of the strict Annex laws

[@brandongaronteam]

Thanks for your thoughts! What do you mean in reference to the population and the strict Annex laws?

[@jarvisstradford7211]

@@brandongaronteam the community around Columbia they should be the city limits. Community around Greenville for example for Taylor should be in Greenville city limits. The community don't want to be a part of the city they want to be their own Community towns.

[@jarvisstradford7211]

For example my hometown of Lancaster South Carolina at 9000 people but they got an urban area around it they tell you it really got 24,000 people. Greenville got 72,000 people but in the urban area it really got 400000

[@brandongaronteam]

Part of that is city and town vs county. Like Lexington has the town of Lexington, Greater Lexington and County of Lexington. Columbia has the city of Columbia and then all the zip codes that encompass Columbia.

[@jarvisstradford7211]

@@brandongaronteam the population in South Carolina cities and towns is not right

[@whimsysparrow6487]

We like the home prices in Midlands, I like the art scene and scenery in Greenville. We haven’t explored too much of the foodie scene in the Midlands but enjoyed the little Jamaican whole in the wall restaurant. Always looking for a variety of foods.

[@nicholaspowell7931]

Easily, Pendleton, Clemson, Travelers Rest, Belton, Anderson

[@nicholaspowell7931]

just because of Uofsc that makes it 3rd not first

[@BryanJohnson-zj6bz]

What is the name of your business? I want to find a house in the Greenville area.

[@brandongaronteam]

As mentioned, I’m in Columbia.

[@jet4415]

I feel that putting Greenville county with Spartanburg county is slightly misleading. Many people would not live near Spartanburg and it quite the hike to get to Greenville.

[@brandongaronteam]

@@jet4415 I don’t cover that area but on a one off I personally helped a buyer in Spartanburg, so not entirely true. As well, Columbia is the same way, I’ve sold more homes in Lexington and the outskirts of Columbia. It was the least bias way by hitting the major counties. To be 100% honest, a lot of people blamed Spartanburg for some of the stats, but outside the population, it was pretty much isolated to Greenville stats.

[@orgrichard]

A WSPA report in March, 2024 stated that Census Bureau statistics show that the Spartanburg metro grew by 3% , 10,000 residents, in 2022-2023 making it the 8th fastest growing metro in the US. New industries are moving into Spartanburg County. Oshkosh Defense chose Spartanburg as the location to assemble all of the new model postal service vehicles for the US. Some people who work in Greenville prefer to live in Spartanburg County due to the cost of living being 7.7% higher in Greenville and housing costs being higher in Greenville than in Spartanburg.

[@nicholaspowell7931]

Micheline star restaurants are way over blown

[@nicholaspowell7931]

not going to include medical because both have good hospitals

[@tiffanypierce1081]

Benedict College 💜 💛

[@philparham3215]

What needs to said is the fact that Greenville is right in the middle of the Atlanta and Charlotte on 1-85. Atlanta and Charlotte have been growing together for 20 years. You also did not mention the massive growth of Spartanburg county. Soon you will not be able to tell the difference between the two. I understand the video was Greenville but the towns literally touch each other. Just showing the 21 % growth of Greenville last 10 years shows it all. Obviously Columbia is closer to the beach. I know of very few people who come visit Greenville for the possibility of moving here that do not make the decision to stay. Columbia is Definitely hotter!! Its Real. Its called Humidity.

[@brandongaronteam]

I shared Lexington county and Richland County vs Greenville County and Spartanburg county. As well included their school districts. I did not miss sharing information about both. I’ve also helped plenty that visited Greenville and decided to move to Columbia, so I wouldn’t say everyone. I always love the half way between comments, sure off one interstate. But Columbia is closer to Charlotte and maybe 40 minutes further to Atalanta. We’re also half way between Charleston and Greenville so I’m not sure the excitement about that fact?

[@RicardoMorales-du7sk]

Columbia tiene más bariedad.greenville is nice

[@IvanLopez-cw5xq]

Ni cercas Columbia está muerto

[@markbajek2541]

I think the Tamarins are better at Greenville zoo.

[@brandongaronteam]

Good to know!

[@texasladibug]

Greenville is far better than Columbia.

[@brandongaronteam]

Thanks for your opinion.

[@wm8673]

Greenville is better even though it is way more conservative politically.

[@theprescotts8463]

What is so bad about being conservative?

[@robertkeller9828]

COLUMBIA has better healthcare. Greenville is lacking. Spartanburg is crime infested. Laurens County? You got to be joking. Majority of the county is on welfare. As far as Michelin Star Resturants, there was one in Greer between G'ville and Spartanburg.

[@orgrichard]

Spartanburg is not “crime infested.” There is crime, certainly, and like all cities it has areas that are best to avoid at night but as a native and long time resident I can attest that overall it is quite safe. The most recent SLED state crime statistics for 2022 don’t show Spartanburg’s crime rate to have been the highest in state in any category. The city police department is one of very few in the state that has implemented Real Time Crime technology.

[@randa04rod]

Greenville blows Colombia out the water and u clearly not from here cause lake hartwell is the second biggest lake in the state it’s 6,000 acres bigger than Murray mud hole, the upstate lakes are clear lakes and waterfalls

[@brandongaronteam]

Lake Hartwell is over an hour out of Greenville and half on the Georgia side. No different than us trying to claim Strom Thurmond Lake.

[@kylemayer3884]

Greenville is more conservative. That's all we needed to know in our search. We visit Columbia. But the closer you get toward the coast, the more woke it gets.

[@johngeorgewashington1416]

What the heck are you talking about..you worse than woke you are asleep..if being woke means respecting others then I'm all for it..

[@brandongaronteam]

If you are referring to political voting, Lexington County in the midlands actually had stronger republican polling than both Greenville and Spartanburg County in the 2020 election. Richland County did vote democratic.

[@Knowbetter69]

​@@johngeorgewashington1416I can't stand a democract, hence the term woke.

[@vistabadboi]

You have to be one of them fake christians !@@Knowbetter69

[@vistabadboi]

another fake christian !

[@MrYup864]

I grew up in Greenville and moved to Columbia for work. It’s not even close. Greenville by far. Folks from Greenville literally laugh at people who live in Columbia. The taxes in Columbia are outrageous. The schools are not even close. School board members literally get in fist fights in Columbia (google it) if that tells you the level of disfunction in Columbia. The weather is not even close. Columbia “holds waters” and is a swamp. Hence the amount of bugs and gnats. With Greenville’s hard freeze once a year those bugs aren’t as bad. Don’t even get me started on crime. I don’t go to downtown Columbia except for work. Almost everyday there’s another shooting reported in Columbia. As soon as I can, I’m leaving Columbia. I have to say it’s fun to watch the renovation of Finlay Park. I’m sure the homeless are going to take it over like the last time. Waste of more public funds.

[@brandongaronteam]

Greenville has it's fair share of issues and problems and Spartanburg ranks much worse than Cola, I left that part out to not seem bias. Either way, it truly depends on where you live, as many schools and crime ratings are ranked better in the suburbs around Columbia, where most people actually live. Do Greenville vs Lexington and Richland vs Spartanburg and see how it pans out.