If you go to Volvo, live on the east side of town and your commute will be opposite of traffic flow. A super easy and fast. Summerville, Ladson, Goose Creek, Moncks Corner. You could even get farther out of town if you wanted.
Boeing is in the middle of the area. You could live almost anywhere. The commute is going to suck some days and be a breeze some days. My office is right by Boeing and my commute from Goose Creek is about 20-40 minutes.
Charleston's biggest issue is the rivers. Wando, Cooper, and Ashley. 75% of the traffic headed into town, crosses at least one of 7 bridges. If something happens on any one of them, that side of town is gridlocked almost instantly. It's like Russian Roulette every morning and you can't beat the odds every day. From Goose Creek, I don't have to cross any of them and can pick one of several routes. It makes life easier.
I lived in Mt Pleasant for 40+ years. It was a wonderful town to grow up in. You couldn't pay me to move back. It's commonly known as Mt Misery or Mt Plastic around here. If you like keeping up with the Jonses it's the place to be. That side of town has 6 lanes on two bridges into and out of it. Traffic usually moves fairly well, but one wreck can bring that to a screeching halt and frequently does.
The Summerville area is getting unbelievably crowded. No bridges to cross, but it's becoming Mt Pleasant 2.0. Personally I don't like the area. Way too many people for me. The I26 commute to town is frequently bad. One idiot can shut the interstate down.
West Ashley is a decent area, but not somewhere you want to commute to or from. The entire south side of town is served by 7 lanes on 3 bridges. Only one of those bridges is high speed. As a general rule, it sucks to get in and out of during rush hour.
Through 4 kids, I've dealt with Berkeley and Charleston county schools. I prefer Berkeley. Their shool board is less about politics. They teach kids instead of building big fancy schools. Charleston County teachers are paid less thn Berkeley and it shows through lack of communication with the parents. We have been pretty happy with Goose Creeks schools other than their preforming arts program. It is just coming together is lacking. My youngest is more into science so it's not as much of an issue.
Dorchester 2 schools have a pretty good rep. I don't know anything about them. There are a few areas I would stay out of because of the schools situation. North Charleston is one of them. Downtown Charleston is another. My son is in Moncks Corner. He has been very happy with the schools. Personally I think the education kids receive is more about the parent than it is the school. If you show a interest, the teachers will respond.
As far as house prices, Mt Pleasant is just insane. The 1000 sq-ft house on a 7000 sq-ft lot I bought in the 80s for $50k last sold for over $400k. It's now surrounded by Mc Mansions and the people that come with them.
The rest of the area is reasonable to ridiculous. The house next door to me just sold for $285k. It was on the market for 3 days and sold for the asking price. That's asinine if you ask me. Makes me want to sell tomorrow.
Best pricing is going to be in Ladson, Moncks Corner, and Goose Creek.
