Beaufort vs Bluffton

A side-by-side comparison of Beaufort and Bluffton: population, income, housing, and more.

Beaufort and Bluffton are places in South Carolina. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Bluffton has the higher population (31,323 vs 13,660 in Beaufort). Bluffton has the higher median household income ($105,463 vs $59,454 in Beaufort). Bluffton has the higher median home value ($444,500 vs $310,400 in Beaufort).

Population, income & housing

	Beaufort	Bluffton
Population	13,660	31,323
Median age	31.5 yrs	41.0 yrs
Median household income	$59,454	$105,463
Median home value	$310,400	$444,500
Median gross rent	$1,061	$2,187
Housing units	6,539	12,335
Homeownership rate	58.7%	81.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	38.1%	47.9%
Unemployment rate	3.9%	2.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Beaufort	Bluffton
Population	13,404 → 13,660 (+1.9%)	20,799 → 31,323 (+50.6%)
Median household income	$54,873 → $59,454 (+8.3%)	$82,481 → $105,463 (+27.9%)
Median home value	$214,700 → $310,400 (+44.6%)	$290,800 → $444,500 (+52.9%)
Median gross rent	$940 → $1,061 (+12.9%)	$1,747 → $2,187 (+25.2%)

Beaufort

Population

13,40413,660

Median household income

$54,873$59,454

Median home value

$214,700$310,400

Median gross rent

$940$1,061

Bluffton

Population

20,79931,323

Median household income

$82,481$105,463

Median home value

$290,800$444,500

Median gross rent

$1,747$2,187

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Beaufort	Bluffton
Under 5	7.1%	4.5%
5 to 17	11.8%	20.5%
18 to 24	14.5%	5.8%
25 to 34	22.6%	9.4%
35 to 44	7.6%	16.7%
45 to 54	7.2%	11.2%
55 to 64	14.0%	11.6%
65 to 74	9.5%	12.9%
75 and over	5.8%	7.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Beaufort	Bluffton
White (non-Hispanic)	61.5%	70.9%
Black or African American	27.5%	9.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.1%
Asian	0.8%	0.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	1.6%
Two or more races	3.4%	2.3%
Hispanic or Latino	6.3%	14.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Beaufort	Bluffton
No high school diploma	3.6%	3.9%
High school graduate	26.9%	15.7%
Some college or associate's	31.4%	32.4%
Bachelor's degree	20.9%	28.8%
Graduate or professional degree	17.2%	19.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Beaufort	Bluffton
Drove alone	77.8%	75.8%
Carpooled	11.7%	9.4%
Public transit	0.2%	0.0%
Walked	3.8%	0.4%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.7%
Worked from home	5.5%	13.7%
Other means	0.6%	0.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Beaufort	Bluffton
1-unit, detached	65.3%	81.9%
1-unit, attached	3.0%	8.6%
2 to 4 units	8.4%	1.3%
5 to 19 units	16.9%	5.1%
20 or more units	3.4%	2.4%
Mobile home & other	3.0%	0.5%

Poverty & households

	Beaufort	Bluffton
Poverty rate	18.0%	4.8%
Average household size	2.18	2.75
Mean commute (minutes)	19	26
Median year structure built	1984	2012