Beaufort vs Laurel Bay

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

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

Beaufort has the higher population (13,660 vs 5,627 in Laurel Bay). Beaufort has the higher median household income ($59,454 vs $52,094 in Laurel Bay). Beaufort has the higher median home value ($310,400 vs $221,300 in Laurel Bay).

Population, income & housing

	Beaufort	Laurel Bay
Population	13,660	5,627
Median age	31.5 yrs	23.3 yrs
Median household income	$59,454	$52,094
Median home value	$310,400	$221,300
Median gross rent	$1,061	$1,375
Housing units	6,539	2,193
Homeownership rate	58.7%	24.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	38.1%	20.4%
Unemployment rate	3.9%	0.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Beaufort	Laurel Bay
Population	13,404 → 13,660 (+1.9%)	6,124 → 5,627 (-8.1%)
Median household income	$54,873 → $59,454 (+8.3%)	$47,656 → $52,094 (+9.3%)
Median home value	$214,700 → $310,400 (+44.6%)	$146,100 → $221,300 (+51.5%)
Median gross rent	$940 → $1,061 (+12.9%)	$1,183 → $1,375 (+16.2%)

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

Laurel Bay

Population

6,1245,627

Median household income

$47,656$52,094

Median home value

$146,100$221,300

Median gross rent

$1,183$1,375

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Beaufort	Laurel Bay
Under 5	7.1%	11.2%
5 to 17	11.8%	22.3%
18 to 24	14.5%	23.6%
25 to 34	22.6%	13.5%
35 to 44	7.6%	13.0%
45 to 54	7.2%	5.3%
55 to 64	14.0%	7.0%
65 to 74	9.5%	1.9%
75 and over	5.8%	2.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Beaufort	Laurel Bay
White (non-Hispanic)	61.5%	44.4%
Black or African American	27.5%	37.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.1%
Asian	0.8%	0.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.1%
Two or more races	3.4%	2.7%
Hispanic or Latino	6.3%	14.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Beaufort	Laurel Bay
No high school diploma	3.6%	11.8%
High school graduate	26.9%	25.1%
Some college or associate's	31.4%	42.7%
Bachelor's degree	20.9%	14.6%
Graduate or professional degree	17.2%	5.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Beaufort	Laurel Bay
Drove alone	77.8%	78.7%
Carpooled	11.7%	19.2%
Public transit	0.2%	0.0%
Walked	3.8%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.6%
Worked from home	5.5%	1.4%
Other means	0.6%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Beaufort	Laurel Bay
1-unit, detached	65.3%	64.4%
1-unit, attached	3.0%	9.9%
2 to 4 units	8.4%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	16.9%	1.9%
20 or more units	3.4%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	3.0%	23.7%

Poverty & households

	Beaufort	Laurel Bay
Poverty rate	18.0%	17.9%
Average household size	2.18	2.78
Mean commute (minutes)	19	24
Median year structure built	1984	1992