Although Rock Hill is in South Carolina, the city, and the rest of York County, is considered a suburb of Charlotte, North Carolina. The city started as a stop on the Charlotte/Columbia/Augusta Railroad in the 1850s. The railroad brought businesses to the area, and textile mills sparked growth with new jobs. Today, over 74,000 people live in Rock Hill, making it the fifth-largest city in South Carolina with three universities, the state’s first cultural district and mixed-use centers still under development. Mark McClaskey, a Realtor and broker with EXP Realty, says the low tax rates and highly rated schools are major draws for the area. Some people want to live near Fort Mill but don’t want to pay the housing prices, and that’s when they turn their attention to Rock Hill. “People move to Rock Hill because Fort Mill is expensive,” McClaskey says. “The schools there are good, and Winthrop University has been growing.”
Access to Interstate 77 has drawn distribution companies to build headquarters and centers here, and more residents are moving downtown to be close to historic buildings and Winthrop University. Small businesses primarily fill the downtown area, filling the old storefronts with restaurants, boutiques and museums. Anyone leaving Charlotte for Rock Hill can keep their Charlotte jobs because I-77 makes commuting over state lines to the financial hub easy. Rock Hill also thrives in tourism, with the BMX Racetrack’s regional and international competitions drawing visitors who stay downtown before a big race. Residents from across the city and county stop by for festivals that have been decades-long traditions, like the Come-See-Me Festival each April.
Rock Hill is the 5th most populous city in South Carolina.
Downtown Rock Hill is known for its variety of unique stores.
Homes, apartments, parks, restaurants, and retail shops make up the Rock Hill neighborhood.
You can join a local riders group in the Rock Hill neighborhood.
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Companies choose Rock Hill for interstate access
Multiple manufacturing companies are headquartered in Rock Hill, including Atlas Copco USA - Power Technique and 3D Systems. Distribution companies like Scentsy, Inc. and West Marine Products, Inc. settled in the city to access I-77, a major route that flows north to Charlotte and south to Columbia. Rock Hill recently completed work on The Thread, a historic textile mill and warehouse transformed into a multi-use space with shops, commercial space and restaurants. Springs Creative put in an archive of textiles created at the height of Spring Industries, the largest textile company in York County throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Piedmont Medical Center creates opportunities for medical professionals, and the company often sponsors local events to give back to the community.
The Piedmont Medical Center in Rock Hill is a 288 bed full service hospital.
The Atlas Copco is one of many manufacturing companies in Rock Hill.
The Thread is an historic textile mill in Rock Hill that was redeveloped in 2014.
Distribution companies like Scentsy and West Marine have moved to Rock Hill.
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New Riverwalk homes and established neighborhoods downtown
The Riverwalk is a brand-new master-planned community with over 1,000 acres in northern Rock Hill along the Catawba River, featuring single-family homes, townhouses, apartments, restaurants and an industrial campus. Downtown, Winthrop Heights and Avondale Terrace are among the more established and popular neighborhoods. Overall, Rock Hill has a lot of growth potential and pretty good investment opportunities,” McClaskey says. “You can get houses for a pretty good price, and if you go to the more rural areas, you can get a lot of bang for your buck.” The median home price is $338,000, lower than the $416,700 national median reported by the National Association of Realtors.
Ranch-style homes in Winthrop Heights range between $275,000 and $475,000, as well as the 2024 Craftsman homes in the Layton Forest subdivision in the west. Downtown Rock Hill features bungalows and Cape Cods with around 1,000 square feet that sell for roughly $200,000, though the occasional Colonial-style home or brick bungalow along Myrtle Drive can land in the $600,000s. Riverwalk’s single-family homes also fall in the $475,000 to $600,000 range. The city's average home has close to 1,500 square feet, three bedrooms and moderate yard space.
Good sized front yards are a common amenity for homes in Rock Hill.
New traditional style homes are a popular option in Rock Hill.
You can find midcentury bungalows in the Rock Hill neighborhood.
Two-story homes are great, first home purchases for those moving to Rock Hill, South Carolina.
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Rock Hill Schools rank high in York County
Families are served by Rock Hill School District, the largest of York County’s four school districts. Niche gives the district a B and ranks it as the third best in York County. There are three public high schools, six middle schools and 15 elementary schools. Cherry Park Elementary School of Language Immersion aims to teach students French or Spanish by conducting half the day in one language and the other half in English, geared to make students bi-lingual. The school gets an A-minus, while Northwestern High School, a public magnet school, earns a B. Northwestern High offers dual enrollment courses through institutes like York Technical College, and students who enrolled through the partnership had free tuition in the 2024-2025 academic year.
Winthrop University is a small public college in the heart of Rock Hill with less than 4,000 undergraduate students. The school opened in 1886 and is known for its small class sizes, diverse student population and liberal arts curriculum. Clinton College is a historically black, private, Christian institution founded in 1894. Around 200 students attend annually, and the acceptance rate is 100%.
Students at Cherry Park Elementary learn their classes in two different languages.
The W.C. Sullivan Middle School in Rock Hill serves just over 900 students.
The Rock Hill football team won a division 1 championship in 2004.
Students practice running track at the W.C. Sullivan Middle School in Rock Hill.
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City parks, BMX racing and the award-winning Come-See-Me Festival
Rock Hill takes pride in its parks and green spaces, with trees covering 40% to 45% of the city’s land, significantly higher than the rest of the country’s urban and metropolitan areas, which have an average tree cover of 30%. The city plans to maintain its high tree cover by keeping up with wooded subdivisions, park space and the local nature reserve. Several small city parks are tucked in the downtown area, including Fountain Park and Grove Park. Within Winthrop Park is Miracle Park, which features ADA-compliant playground equipment and a baseball field where the Miracle League baseball players compete. Fundraising is ongoing to build another baseball field, an education building and a retail space.
Athletics are a major pastime here, as Cherry Park and Hargett Park host annual girls’ softball tournaments, and the Rock Hill Velodrome features an Olympic-standard track for training and races. Rock Hill BMX Supercross Track hosts local, national and international competitions, and it was the first East Coast Olympic-standard track that’s open to the public. Glencairn Garden houses 11 acres of flower gardens, ponds, fountains and picturesque walkways. The garden was also the site of the first Come-See-Me festival in 1962, and the event has been a city tradition ever since. Today, the festival lasts 10 days, and it was named the 2019 South Carolina Event of the Year. Glen the Frog, the festival’s mascot, makes appearances throughout the event, especially during the kick-off parade, the mayor’s frog jump race and the beach bash filled with live music.
Younger residents love playing on the large green space at Fountain Park.
You can enjoy a walk outside at the 1 mile paved trail at Cherry Park in Rock Hill.
You can enjoy a variety of kid friendly food trucks at Miracle Park in Rock Hill.
Younger residents love the large playground at Cherry Park in Rock Hill.
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Modern shops fill historic downtown Rock Hill storefronts
The greenery in Rock Hill doesn’t stop at its parks, with the sidewalks along downtown’s Main Street shaded by tall oaks and beech trees. This historic downtown district is lined with sidewalks. Book, antique and clothing stores neighbor local eateries like The Flipside Restaurant, which serves comfort-food classics. Amelie’s is a French bakery and cafe located in an old bank with two levels, fresh pastries and a lunch menu. The bank vault was turned into the restaurant's walk-in cooler. The Pump House has five floors with views of the nearby Catawba River guests can enjoy while dining on surf and turf dishes paired with wine. Small businesses fill the historic storefronts along East Main Street with modern selections, like Main Street Bottle Shop, which sells beer in bottles and on tap. Copper Dwelling & Design is a general store off East White Street that sells clothes, gifts and fresh flowers, with a coffee and wine bar next door.
When the sun begins to set, the vibrancy of downtown Rock Hill murals begins to pop out more.
Enjoy a delicious dinner in the main dining room at The Pump House in Rock Hill.
Rock Hill locals can head to Friends Books for new and used books.
Rock Hill residents head to The Flipside for Southern style food.
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I-77 commutes to Charlotte
I-77 is accessible from the city’s east side and is the most efficient way to get to Charlotte by car. The 27-mile commute lasts about 30 minutes, and the interstate leads to Uptown in Charlotte and the Charlotte Douglas International Airport. Heading south, I-77 flows 69 miles to Columbia, South Carolina's capital. My Ride Rock Hill is a free bus transit system with four fixed routes in the community and dozens of stops. Downtown and the universities have paved sidewalks, but the older neighborhoods have wider streets without sidewalks. The roads don’t have bike lanes, but that doesn’t stop cyclists who want to explore areas outside the Rock Hill Velodrome.
According to Pew Research, 78% of South Carolinians identify as protestant and attend Baptist churches. The oldest church in Rock Hill is the First Presbyterian Church off East Main Street, built in 1869. Masjid Al-Salaam, also called The Islamic Center of South Carolina, is half a mile down the street. The congregation has plans to expand the masjid to the adjacent property to create more parking and outdoor space for Eid celebrations.
Rock Hill police connect with the community, and recent flooding
The city is patrolled by the York County Sheriff’s Office and the Rock Hill Police Department. According to Crime Grade, Rock Hill's crime rate is 62.26 per 1,000 residents, higher than the national average, with more property crime than violent crime. The police department organizes the annual National Faith and Blue event in Cherry Park to connect the community with officers. This free event features food trucks, resource displays and live music, all aimed to strengthen the relationship between law enforcement and city residents. There’s also The Worthy Boys & Girls Camp, which started in 1949. Children from across York County join the free weeklong camp for safety training, swimming lessons in the lake and social skills training.
In 2024, Hurricane Helene caused the Catawba River to flood in some areas. The Pump House, which is right on the river’s edge, flooded with 9 feet of water. Though the flood damaged The Pump House, other businesses in Riverwalk were not touched by water and continued on as usual. A large set of stairs in nearby Riverwalk leads down to the Carolina Thread Trail, and water reached the top step. The parks department closed access to the river and hiking trail for safety. Hurricane Helene was a unique event, and Rock Hill usually sees all four seasons, with minimal snow and humid summers.
Written By
Rylee Doyle
Photography Contributed By
Ryan Gwilliam
Video By
Jarrod Bock
Interested in learning more about homes in this area?
Reach out to
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an experienced agent in this area.
GreatSchools:
The GreatSchools Rating helps parents compare schools within a state based on a variety of school quality indicators and provides a helpful picture of how effectively each school serves all of its students. Ratings are on a scale of 1 (below average) to 10 (above average) and can include test scores, college readiness, academic progress, advanced courses, equity, discipline and attendance data. We also advise parents to visit schools, consider other information on school performance and programs, and consider family needs as part of the school selection process.
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On average, homes in Rock Hill, SC sell after 53 days on the market compared to the national average of 53 days. The median sale price for homes in Rock Hill, SC over the last 12 months is $339,000, down 1% from the median home sale price over the previous 12 months.
Charming, well-maintained ranch home in desirable Rock Hill—minutes to shopping, dining, and quick access to Charlotte. Enjoy easy one-story living with numerous updates and pride of ownership throughout. The living room features a gas-log fireplace, cathedral ceiling, recessed TV area, oversized ceiling fan, and surround-sound wiring. The kitchen offers stainless steel appliances, filtered water
Welcome to this beautifully maintained full-brick home in a Cul-de Sac featuring over 3,400 square feet of living space, 5 spacious bedrooms, 4 full bathrooms, a versatile bonus room, and an office—providing ample room for comfortable living, working, and entertainment. The first floor boasts beautiful hardwood floors throughout, while the second floor features a brand-new carpet recently
Tucked away in the quiet charm of Ardwyck, this rare end-unit townhome lives more like a private retreat than a traditional townhome. With four bedrooms and three full baths, the home offers the space and ease of single-family living—without the upkeep. Sunlight pours into the open main level, where the kitchen, dining, and living spaces flow effortlessly together, inviting slow mornings and easy
Can be purchased fully furnished, if desired! Hurry, this beautifully updated condo with water views is waiting for you! This 1st floor condo offers 2 bds, 2 bas, new kitchen w/quartz counter tops, backsplash, and stainless steel refrig, stove, microwave. New vinyl plank flooring in main living areas. Primary bedroom w/ensuite bath and walk-in closet w/built-ins. Don't like or want to drive? This
Charming main level condo offering 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom with a bright, open floor plan designed for comfortable and convenient living! The durable vinyl plank flooring flows throughout the entire interior, while large windows fill the home with natural light. The central living room connects to both the screened porch and also to the well-appointed kitchen featuring abundant cabinetry,
Picture coming home to 831 Yale Street in Rock Hill—a warm, inviting retreat with four spacious bedrooms and two-and-a-half baths across 2407 square feet. The kitchen dazzles with brand-new quartz countertops, gleaming under soft lighting as you prep dinner. Upstairs, plush new carpeting feels like heaven underfoot. Outside, an oversized backyard deck stretches wide, anchored by a sparkling
Investment Opportunity Just Minutes from Downtown & Winthrop University!Discover this 3-bedroom gem in vibrant Rock Hill, SC ideally located just a short walk or quick drive to the heart of downtown and the Winthrop campus. Whether you’re expanding your portfolio or stepping into real estate investing, this property offers strong rental potential and the benefits of a growing market. Don’t
This wonderful, single-owner, 4-bedroom, 2.5 bath home offers just over 2000 sq ft of comfortable living space and plenty of room to grow. Situated in one of Rock Hill's centrally located neighborhoods, with a nice, flowing layout and the windows and roof recently replaced, you won't want to miss this opportunity. You will be located close to shops, parks, restaraunts and medical offices. Move
Move-In Ready in Rock Hill! Freshly painted with refinished hardwood floors, this home offers a spacious lot and a convenient location close to shopping, dining, and I-77. Priced to sell, it’s perfect for anyone looking for a great value in a prime spot or a potential rental property!
Wonderful townhome in a great location -easy access to I-77, shopping and restaurants. This unit has 9' ceilings The HVAC is 2 years old and new dishwasher was installed in 2025. Each bedroom has it's own private bath. No HOA! Fenced in backyard perfect for outdoor gatherings.
Charming, well-maintained ranch home in desirable Rock Hill—minutes to shopping, dining, and quick access to Charlotte. Enjoy easy one-story living with numerous updates and pride of ownership throughout. The living room features a gas-log fireplace, cathedral ceiling, recessed TV area, oversized ceiling fan, and surround-sound wiring. The kitchen offers stainless steel appliances, filtered water
This inviting 4-bedroom, 2.5-bath home is situated on a private 5-acre parcel, offering space, versatility, and a peaceful setting just outside the heart of Rock Hill. Inside, the home features a functional and comfortable layout with multiple living and gathering spaces. The updated kitchen serves as a central hub, showcasing modern cabinetry, updated appliances, and generous counter
Calling all investors, flippers, and value-add buyers. This 1-story partial-brick ranch sits on a large lot and is packed with upside. Offered AS-IS, this property is a true investor special with solid bones and tons of potential. The home features 3 bedrooms and 1.5 baths, plus a 4th room that can easily be used as a bedroom, office, or flex space (no closet). Newer HVAC already in place helps
Discover this beautifully maintained 3-bedroom, 2-bath brick home nestled on almost 1.5 acres of peaceful countryside just minutes from all that Rock Hill has to offer. This property features a spacious, light-filled living area with spacious kitchen that has plenty of cabinet space. The primary suite offers a private bath, while two additional bedrooms provide ample space for guests or a home
Welcome to this beautifully maintained full-brick home in a Cul-de Sac featuring over 3,400 square feet of living space, 5 spacious bedrooms, 4 full bathrooms, a versatile bonus room, and an office—providing ample room for comfortable living, working, and entertainment. The first floor boasts beautiful hardwood floors throughout, while the second floor features a brand-new carpet recently
Welcome to this 2 beds, 2 baths beautifully remodeled home in the heart of Rock Hill, SC ! This home boasts a contemporary design with LVP flooring throughout and an open floorplan that seamlessly connects the Great Room, Dining Area, and Kitchen. The updated kitchen features sleek white shaker cabinets, luxurious granite countertops, and SS appliances, offering both style and functionality.
Introducing a truly remarkable home that has undergone a comprehensive top-to-bottom renovation. With everything gutted and rebuilt, this home now boasts an updated plumbing supply and drains, electrical, HVAC, roof, flooring, floor joists, and siding. No detail has been overlooked, ensuring that this property is move-in ready and waiting for you to call it yours. Step into this stylish home and
Welcome to The Alexander, your serene oasis nestled in the heart of Rock Hill, SC. Our vibrant apartment community offers the perfect blend of modern comfort and natural beauty. Immerse yourself in spacious floor plans, thoughtfully designed with your lifestyle in mind. The Alexander provides the ultimate retreat, conveniently situated near shopping, dining, and entertainment options, as well as
Spacious Living: Spread out in our 1,762 sq ft townhome, featuring 3 Generously Sized Bedrooms and 2.5 Bathrooms.Gourmet Kitchen: Cook up a storm with Stainless Steel Appliances, a Gas Stove, and stylish Granite Countertops.Luxury Amenities: Enjoy the convenience of an In-Unit Washer & Dryer, and relax in the primary suite boasting Spa-Like Double Vanities and Dual Large Walk-In
Welcome to The Linden, where Southern charm meets modern living in Rock Hill, South Carolina! Nestled amidst picturesque landscapes and vibrant city life, our community offers the perfect blend of comfort, convenience, and style. You will love our resort-style swimming pool and location near local shopping and dining. Our spacious 2 bedroom apartments are newly renovated featuring granite
Freshly refreshed and ready to impress, this charming townhouse at 309 Union Ave, Unit A offers a clean, bright living experience just steps from the energy of Winthrop University. The spacious living room provides plenty of room to relax or entertain, while the updated feel throughout makes this home move-in ready from day one. Upstairs, you’ll find two comfortable bedrooms and a full bathroom,
Discover Luxury Living at Gateway at Rock HillWelcome to Gateway at Rock Hill—where comfort, convenience, and community come together. Ideally located just minutes from Rock Hill Galleria Mall, I-77, and Uptown Charlotte, our vibrant community offers seamless access to shopping, dining, and entertainment.Step into a lifestyle of ease and enjoyment with resort-style amenities designed to elevate
Nice, 2 Bedroom, 2 Bathroom, 1 Story Townhome for rent at Meadow Creek. This home features a vaulted ceiling in the Living Room and Dining area. Split Bedroom Plan. Primary bedroom suite features a tray ceiling, ceiling fan, sitting area and walk-in closet. LVP Flooring used throughout this unit. Dishwasher, Range/Oven and Microwave. Refrigerator, Washer and Dryer will remain in this rental unit
Elements at Rock Hill is a community offering luxury apartment homes, upscale amenities and top tier service to our residents. We offer 2 and 3 bedrooms that are sure to capture everything you are looking for in your new home! Whether you want to relax by our pool or relax in our coffee lounge, Elements at Rock Hill is sure to have something for you! We are within walking distance of shopping,
Beautifully updated duplex featuring new flooring throughout, a modernized kitchen, freshly painted interiors, and an upgraded bathroom. The inviting living room includes a sleek electric fireplace, creating the perfect space to relax and unwind. This well-maintained property offers comfort, style, and functionality—schedule your showing today!
Our apartment homes are nestled among large oak and cedar trees to combine luxurious living in a quiet setting. This hideaway is convenient to I-77, shopping, dining, and entertainment not to mention the Charlotte Douglas International Airport and the Charlotte area. Amazing amenities such as a clubhouse, fitness center, swimming pool, and playground surround you. Reserve your new home at Forest
Available for February Move-In!Well-maintained 2-bedroom, 1.5-bath single-wide home situated on a large lot with off-street parking. The home features a living room open to the kitchen. Stove and refrigerator are included, with washer and dryer hookups available. Water and sewer are included in the rent; tenant is responsible for lawn maintenance. Pets are conditional with owner approval. No
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