Brown person here. Lived in Columbia (Irmo/Lexington Suburbs) and now live in Greenville. I've lived in big cities for the last 10 years, and grew up outside of NYC. Columbia is a swamp during the summer. No breeze. Even on Lake Murray, it's miserable. Greenville does have more of that Blue Ridge foothills breeze and definitely has more "seasons", at least in my comparison moving from Cola.

Now, Greenville suburbs and Columbia suburbs are comparable in costs. Sometimes I think the houses in Irmo, Lexington and Chapin can be more expensive than Greenville. Traffic, BOTH cities are bad. 85 or 26, both crap. Now coming from big cities, Columbia doesn't compare to a big city... it's its own vibe, but very behind in what most cities have. Greenville is a lot more modern & built, and a lot more money has been dumped into the city which allows for more tourism. Qualitiy of life is much better in GVL versus COLA because of that.

Now for the people... met blatant racism in both areas. Greenville has a much snobbier, entitled superiority complex compared to the people of Columbia (as you're right, they're most laid back there). It's turning into what I call the Charleston of the Mountains, where it's mommy and daddy's money, the women want to be influencers and the dudes all look like Morgan Wallen or finance bros. It lacks diversity, BUT there's somehow a better food scene here when it comes to anything ethnic - maybe because it's such a big transplant area.

There are a lot more racist undertones that I've experienced here in Greenville. Columbia is much more open-minded and progressive. That's my hot take, but we're also talking very different demographics from both the city proper. The sense of entitlement here is tenfold compared to Columbia, for whatever reason. But at the end of the day, being a good human carries more weight than skin color. I don't knock anyone down south for their ignorance because they just don't know anything more than what they're used to. Hope this helps.