Bluffton vs Port Royal

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

Bluffton and Port Royal 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 15,047 in Port Royal). Bluffton has the higher median household income ($105,463 vs $70,330 in Port Royal). Bluffton has the higher median home value ($444,500 vs $298,000 in Port Royal).

Population, income & housing

	Bluffton	Port Royal
Population	31,323	15,047
Median age	41.0 yrs	25.8 yrs
Median household income	$105,463	$70,330
Median home value	$444,500	$298,000
Median gross rent	$2,187	$1,606
Housing units	12,335	5,080
Homeownership rate	81.8%	38.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	47.9%	37.3%
Unemployment rate	2.3%	1.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Bluffton	Port Royal
Population	20,799 → 31,323 (+50.6%)	12,770 → 15,047 (+17.8%)
Median household income	$82,481 → $105,463 (+27.9%)	$49,797 → $70,330 (+41.2%)
Median home value	$290,800 → $444,500 (+52.9%)	$233,300 → $298,000 (+27.7%)
Median gross rent	$1,747 → $2,187 (+25.2%)	$1,220 → $1,606 (+31.6%)

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

Port Royal

Population

12,77015,047

Median household income

$49,797$70,330

Median home value

$233,300$298,000

Median gross rent

$1,220$1,606

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Bluffton	Port Royal
Under 5	4.5%	6.7%
5 to 17	20.5%	11.2%
18 to 24	5.8%	30.6%
25 to 34	9.4%	17.8%
35 to 44	16.7%	8.5%
45 to 54	11.2%	7.7%
55 to 64	11.6%	6.9%
65 to 74	12.9%	6.9%
75 and over	7.4%	3.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Bluffton	Port Royal
White (non-Hispanic)	70.9%	57.9%
Black or African American	9.3%	17.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	0.9%	2.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	1.6%	0.3%
Two or more races	2.3%	5.1%
Hispanic or Latino	14.9%	17.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Bluffton	Port Royal
No high school diploma	3.9%	5.0%
High school graduate	15.7%	19.4%
Some college or associate's	32.4%	38.3%
Bachelor's degree	28.8%	18.4%
Graduate or professional degree	19.1%	18.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Bluffton	Port Royal
Drove alone	75.8%	66.4%
Carpooled	9.4%	15.0%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.4%	8.2%
Bicycle	0.7%	0.0%
Worked from home	13.7%	9.2%
Other means	0.1%	1.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Bluffton	Port Royal
1-unit, detached	81.9%	41.3%
1-unit, attached	8.6%	12.6%
2 to 4 units	1.3%	7.8%
5 to 19 units	5.1%	22.2%
20 or more units	2.4%	13.0%
Mobile home & other	0.5%	3.1%

Poverty & households

	Bluffton	Port Royal
Poverty rate	4.8%	10.6%
Average household size	2.75	2.49
Mean commute (minutes)	26	14
Median year structure built	2012	2008