columbia vs greenville vs florence (Charleston, North Charleston: high school, university, quality of life)

[waccamatt]

Greenville County also has a much larger land area than Richland County and 20% of Richland County is unpopulated due to Congaree National Park and Fort Jackson - that's a fact.

[motonenterprises]

Also, Greenville county is the densest populated county in the state. Another fact!

[motonenterprises]

I don't hate Columbia though Waccamatt, I just love Greenville. We can go all night, but I don't have time.

[g-man430]

Let's just settle this right now. Charleston is the largest and Atlanta whoops all of our butts.

[Akhenaton06]

Why am I not surprised to see this devolve into a pissing match/cripple fight? For all practical purposes and intentions, Greenville and Columbia are the same size. Outside of downtown Charleston, density anywhere else in the state is pretty much a joke and means very little.

As far as the original question, Florence is OK, but I would narrow the search to Columbia and Greenville myself. Based on the criteria:

• less humidity (if any difference actually exists)

Greenville

• better high schools

Both metro areas have good high schools

• low crime

That depends on location within the metro area. Both have areas of low crime and areas where the crime isn't so low (which you'd probably avoid anyway).

• warmer/mild winter

Columbia

[CarolinaSouth803]

It's this simple.... seeing that you are from Dallas, PA you'd probably be more comfortable in Greenville considering where you are from was basically in the foothills of the mountains in PA, but not far from Scranton, Newark and NYC. Living in Greenville will give you access to the major cities of Atlanta {2hr 15min away...maybe closer} and Charlotte {about 80min away} via I-85. Greenville is in the foothills of the App Mts. and it's a growing area.

But let's clear this up...no city in this state is leaps and bounds better than the rest [as far as it's major metros}. So considering you are from a smaller city...don't discount Florence. It's comparable to were you are currently living, close to Myrtle Beach and Wilmington, NC if you want a change of venue for a day or weekend. I'm a Columbian born and raised and I love for more people to move to my home city...but this forum is for helping people find the best fit for them. I think you would be just as happy in Columbia as you would in Greenville {it's closer to Charlotte and only 1hrs farther from ATL} and it growing also. So if you want a larger, but similar setting like where you are from....go Greenville. If you want a smaller town that's easy to get around and has the basic necessities to get by...go with Florence. If you want a different setting and a good all around city...go with Columbia. The beauty is that this state is small enough for you to be able to see all cities in 1 day if you wanted to.

If i were y'all i'd visit all three...I normally say "fly into Columbia as your base city" and drive to and from each area from there but i'm sure it would be seen as bias considering Columbia is one of your cities of interest. So here's what you do.... Fly into Charlotte [it's cheaper to do so]...rent a car and drive I-85 South for about 80min to Greenville for a day. Spend the day and night there to get a feel for it. The following day...drive I-26 East for about 90min to Columbia and do the same as you did in the previous city... stay the night...then in the morning hop on I-20 East for about 1hr to get to Florence and repeat. After you finish that...take i-20W back toward Columbia til you get to I-77North....that'll take you back up to Charlotte.

I think some people on here get caught up in thinking more Chain stores and newly paved streets will make a city better than another. Not true...but hey...that's just my opinon...

GOOD LUCK!!!! and Best wishes

[Rapture]

Let's stay on topic and not argue, please!

[sandlapper]

Originally Posted by motonenterprises

Oh, I forgot. Greenville is the economic engine of SC. There you go great one from the CAPITOL city. Shouldn't even be close should it, but it is! Thats a fact. We don't need a big college and government for people to want to come here. Now thats also a fact my friend.

Actually, and this is not a flame or a personal attack. Columbia has a larger gross domestic product than Greenville (26.3 billion vs. 22.5 billion) as of 2005 and could be considered the states current economic engine. According to http://usmayors.org/metroeconomies/0107/GMPreport.pdf (Tabel 1).

[g-man430]

Are we talking about Greenville County or City?

[gsupstate]

Originally Posted by sandlapper

Actually, and this is not a flame or a personal attack. Columbia has a larger gross domestic product than Greenville (26.3 billion vs. 22.5 billion) as of 2005 and could be considered the states current economic engine. According to http://usmayors.org/metroeconomies/0107/GMPreport.pdf (Tabel 1).

Well I would certainly hope Columbia has more GDP than Greenville, after all, Columbia's population is almost double Greenville's.....Columbia is a MUCH larger city.
Looking at it from that respect, Columbia's GDP should be much larger....it should be almost double Greenville's but unforunately it isn't....it is just 3.8 billion larger. That says more about Columbia's failure and Greenville's agressiveness to me.