Beaufort vs Hilton Head Island

A side-by-side comparison of Beaufort and Hilton Head Island: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Hilton Head Island has the higher population (37,805 vs 13,660 in Beaufort). Hilton Head Island has the higher median household income ($96,715 vs $59,454 in Beaufort). Hilton Head Island has the higher median home value ($652,100 vs $310,400 in Beaufort).

Population, income & housing

	Beaufort	Hilton Head Island
Population	13,660	37,805
Median age	31.5 yrs	59.9 yrs
Median household income	$59,454	$96,715
Median home value	$310,400	$652,100
Median gross rent	$1,061	$1,518
Housing units	6,539	30,265
Homeownership rate	58.7%	79.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	38.1%	55.3%
Unemployment rate	3.9%	2.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Beaufort	Hilton Head Island
Population	13,404 → 13,660 (+1.9%)	40,007 → 37,805 (-5.5%)
Median household income	$54,873 → $59,454 (+8.3%)	$84,575 → $96,715 (+14.4%)
Median home value	$214,700 → $310,400 (+44.6%)	$483,600 → $652,100 (+34.8%)
Median gross rent	$940 → $1,061 (+12.9%)	$1,271 → $1,518 (+19.4%)

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

Hilton Head Island

Population

40,00737,805

Median household income

$84,575$96,715

Median home value

$483,600$652,100

Median gross rent

$1,271$1,518

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Beaufort	Hilton Head Island
Under 5	7.1%	2.6%
5 to 17	11.8%	9.5%
18 to 24	14.5%	4.6%
25 to 34	22.6%	7.2%
35 to 44	7.6%	7.8%
45 to 54	7.2%	10.7%
55 to 64	14.0%	18.5%
65 to 74	9.5%	20.2%
75 and over	5.8%	19.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Beaufort	Hilton Head Island
White (non-Hispanic)	61.5%	75.1%
Black or African American	27.5%	6.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.0%
Asian	0.8%	0.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	1.1%
Two or more races	3.4%	1.5%
Hispanic or Latino	6.3%	15.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Beaufort	Hilton Head Island
No high school diploma	3.6%	7.0%
High school graduate	26.9%	17.0%
Some college or associate's	31.4%	20.7%
Bachelor's degree	20.9%	31.4%
Graduate or professional degree	17.2%	23.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Beaufort	Hilton Head Island
Drove alone	77.8%	69.6%
Carpooled	11.7%	8.7%
Public transit	0.2%	0.4%
Walked	3.8%	1.4%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.8%
Worked from home	5.5%	17.3%
Other means	0.6%	1.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Beaufort	Hilton Head Island
1-unit, detached	65.3%	47.3%
1-unit, attached	3.0%	6.0%
2 to 4 units	8.4%	6.6%
5 to 19 units	16.9%	14.5%
20 or more units	3.4%	20.6%
Mobile home & other	3.0%	5.1%

Poverty & households

	Beaufort	Hilton Head Island
Poverty rate	18.0%	8.4%
Average household size	2.18	2.15
Mean commute (minutes)	19	18
Median year structure built	1984	1987