Laurel Bay vs Shell Point

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

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

Laurel Bay has the higher population (5,627 vs 2,005 in Shell Point). Shell Point has the higher median household income ($65,840 vs $52,094 in Laurel Bay). Shell Point has the higher median home value ($233,600 vs $221,300 in Laurel Bay).

Population, income & housing

	Laurel Bay	Shell Point
Population	5,627	2,005
Median age	23.3 yrs	44.4 yrs
Median household income	$52,094	$65,840
Median home value	$221,300	$233,600
Median gross rent	$1,375	$1,185
Housing units	2,193	892
Homeownership rate	24.2%	76.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.4%	27.6%
Unemployment rate	0.0%	4.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Laurel Bay	Shell Point
Population	6,124 → 5,627 (-8.1%)	2,842 → 2,005 (-29.5%)
Median household income	$47,656 → $52,094 (+9.3%)	$64,928 → $65,840 (+1.4%)
Median home value	$146,100 → $221,300 (+51.5%)	$176,700 → $233,600 (+32.2%)
Median gross rent	$1,183 → $1,375 (+16.2%)	$931 → $1,185 (+27.3%)

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

Shell Point

Population

2,8422,005

Median household income

$64,928$65,840

Median home value

$176,700$233,600

Median gross rent

$931$1,185

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Laurel Bay	Shell Point
Under 5	11.2%	7.4%
5 to 17	22.3%	16.3%
18 to 24	23.6%	8.9%
25 to 34	13.5%	11.8%
35 to 44	13.0%	6.3%
45 to 54	5.3%	15.6%
55 to 64	7.0%	10.9%
65 to 74	1.9%	9.4%
75 and over	2.3%	13.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Laurel Bay	Shell Point
White (non-Hispanic)	44.4%	80.7%
Black or African American	37.9%	13.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	0.2%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.7%	1.9%
Hispanic or Latino	14.6%	4.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Laurel Bay	Shell Point
No high school diploma	11.8%	3.7%
High school graduate	25.1%	38.1%
Some college or associate's	42.7%	30.6%
Bachelor's degree	14.6%	20.0%
Graduate or professional degree	5.8%	7.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Laurel Bay	Shell Point
Drove alone	78.7%	83.5%
Carpooled	19.2%	10.7%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.0%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.6%	0.0%
Worked from home	1.4%	5.8%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Laurel Bay	Shell Point
1-unit, detached	64.4%	56.7%
1-unit, attached	9.9%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	0.0%	5.6%
5 to 19 units	1.9%	0.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	1.9%
Mobile home & other	23.7%	35.8%

Poverty & households

	Laurel Bay	Shell Point
Poverty rate	17.9%	4.4%
Average household size	2.78	2.43
Mean commute (minutes)	24	20
Median year structure built	1992	1988