The town of Hilton Head Island counts 37,911 people (plus or minus 43) inside Beaufort County and the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC metro. The 2020-2024 ACS ranks the town 14th by population among incorporated places in South Carolina. Owner-homes are valued at a midpoint of $687,400 (Census margin $30,316) next to household pay of $94,657 (plus or minus $9,084). That value sits about 51 percent above Beaufort County’s $455,600 reading and about 165 percent above the statewide $259,000. The value-to-income ratio is about 7.3 years of local pay, against about 5.3 years countywide and 3.7 years across South Carolina.
No branch sits on the island. Island applications are built at 128 South Tryon Street, suite 1933, in Charlotte, a straight-line distance of about 210 miles. The South Carolina license on that work is company NMLS 2468711. Document packets usually travel electronically. Anyone who would rather talk in a room can book time at the Charlotte address.
A 59.8-year midpoint age and a 39.1 percent vacant stock
The typical resident is 59.8 years old (margin 1.1 years), far older than South Carolina’s 40.2-year midpoint and the country’s 38.9. People 65 and over account for 39.2 percent of the town, more than double the statewide 18.9 percent share. People younger than 18 are only 11.9 percent, against 21.4 percent across the state. That age profile appears during underwriting as more cash purchases, more second-home occupancy questions and insurance quotes written for an older coastal stock.
Vacancy runs 39.1 percent of the 30,112 housing units (margin 1.1 points), against 13.3 percent statewide and 10.1 percent nationwide. Occupied households number 18,326: 14,422 who own and 3,904 who rent. The gap between 30,112 dwellings and 18,326 occupied households is the seasonal and second-home stock that defines this island in a way Bluffton, where only about 6.4 percent of housing sits empty, does not. A lender will ask whether the house will be a primary residence, a second home or an investment, because occupancy changes documentation, pricing and the tax classification that follows closing.
For residents whose poverty status is determined, 8.6 percent (margin 1.9 points) live under the federal poverty threshold (South Carolina’s rate is 14.1 percent). Of adults age 25 or older, 93.6 percent (margin 3.9 points) have at least a high-school credential and 56.1 percent (margin 2.9 points) hold at least a bachelor’s degree, well above South Carolina’s 32.1 percent college-completion share. Residents born outside the United States make up about 13.8 percent of the town (margin 1.8 points). Remote work was reported by 20.1 percent of employed residents (margin 2.9 points). About 4.3 percent of households have no internet subscription (margin 1.3 points).
Why the $687,400 typical house sits above FHA's $638,250 cap
Every island address shares Beaufort County’s published ceilings. On a single-family purchase in 2026, a conventional loan that remains conforming cannot go above $832,750. FHA’s one-unit maximum is $638,250, because HUD’s area-price estimate for this metro is $555,000. The $687,400 owner-home midpoint sits above that FHA ceiling even after subtracting the $30,316 Census margin ($657,084 is still higher than $638,250). A typical island house, then, is more often a conventional file or, above $832,750, a jumbo file. Our FHA page still matters for condos and for houses that price under the cap; it is not the default path at the ACS midpoint.
Two-family houses use different printed steps: $1,066,250 if the loan stays conventional and conforming, and $817,050 if it is FHA. A four-unit building can reach $1,601,750 conventional or $1,227,400 FHA. We wait for the appraisal’s unit count before treating those larger steps as available. Income and purchase-price rows that govern extra cash at signing should be read from the housing-finance authority’s published charts for Beaufort County. Those rows are updated, so we check them while the file is being built. Statewide program notes sit on our statewide South Carolina loan guide. Investors looking at a rental purchase can open the DSCR notes.
14,231 detached houses beside 3,056 units in buildings of 50 or more
Detached houses number 14,231, or 47.3 percent of the stock, well below South Carolina’s 64.5 percent detached share. Townhouse-style dwellings (one unit, attached) number 1,856 and make up 6.2 percent of the stock. Duplexes add 408 units (1.4 percent). The 3-to-4-unit group holds 1,865 dwellings (6.2 percent). Buildings with five to nine dwellings contain 2,767 units (9.2 percent). The next bands are 1,446 dwellings in properties of 10-19 units (4.8 percent), 2,915 in the 20-49 range (9.7 percent) and 3,056 in buildings of 50 or more (10.1 percent). Manufactured homes number 1,568, or 5.2 percent.
Taken together, buildings of five or more dwellings account for 33.8 percent of island housing, far above Beaufort County’s 17.3 percent and the state’s 12.9 percent. Buildings of 10 dwellings or more alone account for 24.6 percent. A stacked purchase adds the association’s questionnaire to underwriting, and an FHA or VA approval of the project itself is required when those programs are used. Most island housing dates to around 1987, older than Beaufort County (1999) and South Carolina (1992), so insurance and repair escrow often reflect systems that have already been replaced once, or that still need to be.
14,422 owners, and only half of them still carry a loan
Owner-occupants fill 78.7 percent of occupied dwellings (margin 2.7 points), higher than Beaufort County’s 75.9 percent and South Carolina’s 71.9 percent. A loan remains on only 50.8 percent of owner-homes, below the county’s 58.5 percent and the state’s 57.1 percent, which matches an older, more paid-off stock and a larger share of cash buyers. The typical owner arrived around 2013. The typical renter arrived around 2018. Owner tax bills in the ACS sit near $3,066 a year, above Beaufort County’s $2,174 reading and far above South Carolina’s $1,251. Property tax millage is tied to the parcel, its school district and any town levy. Treat the $3,066 ACS midpoint as a townwide clue rather than a bill for a named street.
Typical monthly gross rent is $1,479 (margin $162), actually below Beaufort County’s $1,653 midpoint and above the state’s $1,180. Just over half of island renters (51.2 percent) put at least 30 percent of household income toward rent. The ACS rent-burden bands for the island are 27.0 percent below a 20 percent rent share, 21.8 percent between twenty and just under thirty percent of income, and 21.9 percent at half or more of income. Adults who have served make up 7.5 percent of the island, a bit under the statewide 8.3 percent veteran share. A VA comparison is still offered when the buyer has a service history. Twelve months of typical island rent equals about 18.7 percent of typical local pay.
Beaufort County's September tape: $520,000 asks and 92 days
No Hilton Head-only Realtor.com tape is published, so the snapshot we can cite covers Beaufort County together. Last September the middle asking price on the county tape was $520,000, 10.7 percent cheaper than a year earlier. Shoppers could browse 2,171 active listings, 13.9 percent above the prior September. Listings that went pending had typically sat for 92 days, a wait 16.9 percent longer than the prior September. Sellers had already marked down 20.2 percent of those listings. Fresh inventory totaled 528 homes, 24.1 percent thinner than a year earlier, while 615 homes sat under contract, more than twice the prior September (a 111.5 percent increase). Asking prices worked out to $336 per finished square foot, slipping 1.3 percent from a year earlier.
That countywide $520,000 ask sits well below this town’s $687,400 ACS owner-home value because the tape mixes Bluffton subdivisions, Port Royal and the city of Beaufort with island listings, while the ACS describes occupied owner-homes inside town. Neighboring incorporated towns help frame the local price range. Bluffton lies about 11 miles away and counts 33,157 people; owner-homes there are typically valued near $492,100 on pay near $111,281. Twelve miles away, Port Royal has 15,579 residents; houses there are near $347,200 and pay is near $74,870. About 19 miles out, the city of Beaufort lists 13,747 residents, houses near $345,400 and pay near $61,220. Hardeeville is also about 19 miles, with 10,871 people, houses near $488,900 and pay near $78,365. Walterboro, 49 miles away, is a town of 5,480 whose owner-homes are typically valued near $183,500 on household pay near $56,457. Hollywood is about 50 miles distant, with 5,382 residents, typical houses near $460,100 and typical pay near $73,693. About 60 miles away, James Island pairs 12,198 residents with houses near $508,600 and pay near $104,217. Charleston, about 63 miles, counts 154,338 people and pairs houses near $509,700 with pay near $92,414. Nearby incorporated places therefore run from Walterboro’s $183,500 to Charleston’s $509,700; this town’s own $687,400 ACS reading sits above every one of them.
Those 30,112 dwellings include about 11,786 vacant units once the 18,326 occupied households are subtracted, which is how a 39.1 percent vacant share appears in a town of fewer than 38,000 people. Among the 14,422 owner households, roughly half still have a loan, or about 7,326 mortgaged owners, leaving a large paid-off group that matches the 59.8-year midpoint age. Household pay of $94,657 sits about 37 percent above South Carolina’s $69,324, yet the house-value gap is much wider, which is why the 7.3-year value-to-income pairing stands out against the country’s 4.1-year pairing.
Second homes, coastal insurance and the attorney-led signing
If the island house will be your year-round home, ask the Beaufort County assessor how to claim occupied-home status after you move in. State law (S.C. Code section 12-43-220) places second homes and rentals in a different class. Exemption language that applies across South Carolina is collected on the state revenue department’s website. Filing windows are set locally by the assessor.
Coastal carriers often add their own deductible for named-storm or wind damage, and flood coverage is lot-specific. Check the parcel on FEMA’s flood map before bidding, especially beside a marsh, a lagoon or a drainage canal. The South Carolina closing attorney is chosen by the buyer. Earnest-money size and the inspection period appear in the purchase agreement. Typical fee headings are gathered in our article on closing costs in both Carolinas.
BLS put unemployment in Beaufort County at 3.5 percent last September, a reading published without seasonal adjustment. The town’s own ACS unemployment share, averaged across 2020-2024, is 3.0 percent (margin 1.2 points, a wider band). Neither area rate replaces the pay stubs and tax returns collected for each applicant. Related pages: Beaufort County, Bluffton and Jasper County. Statewide notes are on South Carolina.
Comments from people we have helped near Hilton Head Island
Borrower comments from Google appear below in their original wording. Some name the island or another Lowcountry town.
Published sources behind the island statistics
Age, vacancy, schooling, building-type counts and the nearby-town list on this island page come from ACS 2020-2024 tables as published on Census Reporter and America by Place. Realtor.com’s Beaufort County snapshot supplies last September’s inventory, asking prices and days-on-market rows. Conventional ceilings were printed by FHFA. FHA ceilings were printed by HUD, and HUD’s $555,000 area-price estimate is the reason the FHA one-unit stop on the island is $638,250. BLS published Beaufort County’s 3.5 percent jobless reading for last September, a series that is not seasonally adjusted. The surveys belong to those agencies; this page repeats the published rows.
What goes into a Hilton Head monthly payment
A realistic island budget includes the note itself, the millage tied to that specific parcel, a homeowners policy or an HO-6 policy written for a coastal building that may date to either side of 1987, plus flood or wind coverage if the map or the carrier asks for it, and condominium dues when the dwelling is stacked. The ACS midpoint of $3,066 in owner taxes is a townwide clue, not the bill for any one street.
Once the deed records, call the Beaufort County assessor if the island house will be your residence and ask how occupied-home classification works. Forward that office’s reply so we can judge whether the tax escrow looks large enough. A second home follows a different classification.
Tapping equity already built on Hilton Head Island
If you already have an island mortgage and want cash without replacing that first note, begin on our page about home-equity lines or the bridge-HELOC explainer. This page is about buying an island house.
