Sullivan's Island, SC population, income and ZIP codes

Sullivan's Island town is a small town in South Carolina, with 2,127 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #192 of 475 ranked by population — larger than 59% of them. The median age here is 52.9 years against 39.1 nationally, a markedly older profile that usually tracks retirees staying put and younger households leaving for work. At this population the ACS sample is small, so the margin of error around every dollar figure below is wide — treat the numbers as a band, not a point, and expect them to move between annual releases without the place itself changing.

Households in Sullivan's Island town earn a median of $179,614 a year, 128.7% above the national figure of $78,538 and 238% 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 8.3% of residents here, below the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in Sullivan's Island town is valued at $2,000,001, 559.2% above the national figure and 1029% above the $177,100 peer median, while median gross rent runs $2,402 a month, 70.8% above the national figure, or roughly $28,824 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 16% 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 11.1×, 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. 84.6% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, an owner-dominated market where rental listings are scarce and rent medians rest on a thin sample. 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 11.1× 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 52.9 puts Sullivan's 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.

No figure on this page is estimated by us; each one comes straight from the published ACS tables for this area. 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.