Hilton Head Island, SC population, income and ZIP codes

Hilton Head Island town is a small city in South Carolina, with 37,805 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #13 of 475 ranked by population — larger than 97% of them. The median age here is 59.9 years against 39.1 nationally, a markedly older profile that usually tracks retirees staying put and younger households leaving for work. Places under 65,000 residents only appear in the five-year release, never the one-year file, so these values pool sixty months of responses and lag the current year by design.

Households in Hilton Head Island town earn a median of $96,715 a year, 23.1% above the national figure of $78,538 and 82% above the $53,071 median for the 263 South Carolina cities we cover. Household income here is measured before tax and pooled across everyone at the address, which is why it reads higher than typical individual earnings in the same area. Poverty reaches 8.4% of residents here, below the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in Hilton Head Island town is valued at $652,100, 114.9% above the national figure and 268% above the $177,100 peer median, while median gross rent runs $1,518 a month, 8% above the national figure, or roughly $18,216 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 18.8% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is cheap relative to what people here earn. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 6.7×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so buying is out of reach on local earnings alone and the ownership market leans on outside income, equity or dual high earners. 79.3% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, so the market leans toward owners. Rent is reported gross — contract rent plus tenant-paid utilities — which is why it runs above the advertised price on a listing for the same unit.

Home values sit at 6.7× median household income, far past the 3.9× national mark, so ownership costs here are set by something other than local wages — second homes, retirees with equity, or commuters earning elsewhere. A median age of 59.9 puts Hilton Head Island town well into retirement-weighted territory, which pulls median household income down even where household wealth is high, because retirement draws are counted differently from wages.

All values below were released by the Census for this exact geography, with no gap-filling on our side. Small-area estimates still carry wider margins of error than state or national figures, so check the linked ACS tables before relying on them for lending, appraisal or legal work.