Laurel Bay vs Port Royal

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

Laurel Bay 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.

Port Royal has the higher population (15,047 vs 5,627 in Laurel Bay). Port Royal has the higher median household income ($70,330 vs $52,094 in Laurel Bay). Port Royal has the higher median home value ($298,000 vs $221,300 in Laurel Bay).

Population, income & housing

	Laurel Bay	Port Royal
Population	5,627	15,047
Median age	23.3 yrs	25.8 yrs
Median household income	$52,094	$70,330
Median home value	$221,300	$298,000
Median gross rent	$1,375	$1,606
Housing units	2,193	5,080
Homeownership rate	24.2%	38.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.4%	37.3%
Unemployment rate	0.0%	1.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Laurel Bay	Port Royal
Population	6,124 → 5,627 (-8.1%)	12,770 → 15,047 (+17.8%)
Median household income	$47,656 → $52,094 (+9.3%)	$49,797 → $70,330 (+41.2%)
Median home value	$146,100 → $221,300 (+51.5%)	$233,300 → $298,000 (+27.7%)
Median gross rent	$1,183 → $1,375 (+16.2%)	$1,220 → $1,606 (+31.6%)

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

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)

	Laurel Bay	Port Royal
Under 5	11.2%	6.7%
5 to 17	22.3%	11.2%
18 to 24	23.6%	30.6%
25 to 34	13.5%	17.8%
35 to 44	13.0%	8.5%
45 to 54	5.3%	7.7%
55 to 64	7.0%	6.9%
65 to 74	1.9%	6.9%
75 and over	2.3%	3.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Laurel Bay	Port Royal
White (non-Hispanic)	44.4%	57.9%
Black or African American	37.9%	17.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	0.2%	2.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.3%
Two or more races	2.7%	5.1%
Hispanic or Latino	14.6%	17.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Laurel Bay	Port Royal
No high school diploma	11.8%	5.0%
High school graduate	25.1%	19.4%
Some college or associate's	42.7%	38.3%
Bachelor's degree	14.6%	18.4%
Graduate or professional degree	5.8%	18.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Laurel Bay	Port Royal
Drove alone	78.7%	66.4%
Carpooled	19.2%	15.0%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.0%	8.2%
Bicycle	0.6%	0.0%
Worked from home	1.4%	9.2%
Other means	0.0%	1.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Laurel Bay	Port Royal
1-unit, detached	64.4%	41.3%
1-unit, attached	9.9%	12.6%
2 to 4 units	0.0%	7.8%
5 to 19 units	1.9%	22.2%
20 or more units	0.0%	13.0%
Mobile home & other	23.7%	3.1%

Poverty & households

	Laurel Bay	Port Royal
Poverty rate	17.9%	10.6%
Average household size	2.78	2.49
Mean commute (minutes)	24	14
Median year structure built	1992	2008