Bluffton vs Laurel Bay

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

Bluffton 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.

Bluffton has the higher population (31,323 vs 5,627 in Laurel Bay). Bluffton has the higher median household income ($105,463 vs $52,094 in Laurel Bay). Bluffton has the higher median home value ($444,500 vs $221,300 in Laurel Bay).

Population, income & housing

	Bluffton	Laurel Bay
Population	31,323	5,627
Median age	41.0 yrs	23.3 yrs
Median household income	$105,463	$52,094
Median home value	$444,500	$221,300
Median gross rent	$2,187	$1,375
Housing units	12,335	2,193
Homeownership rate	81.8%	24.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	47.9%	20.4%
Unemployment rate	2.3%	0.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Bluffton	Laurel Bay
Population	20,799 → 31,323 (+50.6%)	6,124 → 5,627 (-8.1%)
Median household income	$82,481 → $105,463 (+27.9%)	$47,656 → $52,094 (+9.3%)
Median home value	$290,800 → $444,500 (+52.9%)	$146,100 → $221,300 (+51.5%)
Median gross rent	$1,747 → $2,187 (+25.2%)	$1,183 → $1,375 (+16.2%)

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

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)

	Bluffton	Laurel Bay
Under 5	4.5%	11.2%
5 to 17	20.5%	22.3%
18 to 24	5.8%	23.6%
25 to 34	9.4%	13.5%
35 to 44	16.7%	13.0%
45 to 54	11.2%	5.3%
55 to 64	11.6%	7.0%
65 to 74	12.9%	1.9%
75 and over	7.4%	2.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Bluffton	Laurel Bay
White (non-Hispanic)	70.9%	44.4%
Black or African American	9.3%	37.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	0.9%	0.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	1.6%	0.1%
Two or more races	2.3%	2.7%
Hispanic or Latino	14.9%	14.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Bluffton	Laurel Bay
No high school diploma	3.9%	11.8%
High school graduate	15.7%	25.1%
Some college or associate's	32.4%	42.7%
Bachelor's degree	28.8%	14.6%
Graduate or professional degree	19.1%	5.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Bluffton	Laurel Bay
Drove alone	75.8%	78.7%
Carpooled	9.4%	19.2%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.4%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.7%	0.6%
Worked from home	13.7%	1.4%
Other means	0.1%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Bluffton	Laurel Bay
1-unit, detached	81.9%	64.4%
1-unit, attached	8.6%	9.9%
2 to 4 units	1.3%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	5.1%	1.9%
20 or more units	2.4%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	0.5%	23.7%

Poverty & households

	Bluffton	Laurel Bay
Poverty rate	4.8%	17.9%
Average household size	2.75	2.78
Mean commute (minutes)	26	24
Median year structure built	2012	1992