Bluffton vs Hilton Head Island

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

Bluffton 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 31,323 in Bluffton). Bluffton has the higher median household income ($105,463 vs $96,715 in Hilton Head Island). Hilton Head Island has the higher median home value ($652,100 vs $444,500 in Bluffton).

Population, income & housing

	Bluffton	Hilton Head Island
Population	31,323	37,805
Median age	41.0 yrs	59.9 yrs
Median household income	$105,463	$96,715
Median home value	$444,500	$652,100
Median gross rent	$2,187	$1,518
Housing units	12,335	30,265
Homeownership rate	81.8%	79.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	47.9%	55.3%
Unemployment rate	2.3%	2.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Bluffton	Hilton Head Island
Population	20,799 → 31,323 (+50.6%)	40,007 → 37,805 (-5.5%)
Median household income	$82,481 → $105,463 (+27.9%)	$84,575 → $96,715 (+14.4%)
Median home value	$290,800 → $444,500 (+52.9%)	$483,600 → $652,100 (+34.8%)
Median gross rent	$1,747 → $2,187 (+25.2%)	$1,271 → $1,518 (+19.4%)

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

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)

	Bluffton	Hilton Head Island
Under 5	4.5%	2.6%
5 to 17	20.5%	9.5%
18 to 24	5.8%	4.6%
25 to 34	9.4%	7.2%
35 to 44	16.7%	7.8%
45 to 54	11.2%	10.7%
55 to 64	11.6%	18.5%
65 to 74	12.9%	20.2%
75 and over	7.4%	19.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Bluffton	Hilton Head Island
White (non-Hispanic)	70.9%	75.1%
Black or African American	9.3%	6.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	0.9%	0.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	1.6%	1.1%
Two or more races	2.3%	1.5%
Hispanic or Latino	14.9%	15.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Bluffton	Hilton Head Island
No high school diploma	3.9%	7.0%
High school graduate	15.7%	17.0%
Some college or associate's	32.4%	20.7%
Bachelor's degree	28.8%	31.4%
Graduate or professional degree	19.1%	23.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Bluffton	Hilton Head Island
Drove alone	75.8%	69.6%
Carpooled	9.4%	8.7%
Public transit	0.0%	0.4%
Walked	0.4%	1.4%
Bicycle	0.7%	0.8%
Worked from home	13.7%	17.3%
Other means	0.1%	1.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Bluffton	Hilton Head Island
1-unit, detached	81.9%	47.3%
1-unit, attached	8.6%	6.0%
2 to 4 units	1.3%	6.6%
5 to 19 units	5.1%	14.5%
20 or more units	2.4%	20.6%
Mobile home & other	0.5%	5.1%

Poverty & households

	Bluffton	Hilton Head Island
Poverty rate	4.8%	8.4%
Average household size	2.75	2.15
Mean commute (minutes)	26	18
Median year structure built	2012	1987