St. Simons, Georgia

Area Profile

16,228 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for St. Simons, in Glynn County.

Area Score unavailable

Missing required signal: growth. AreaProfile withholds a score rather than inferring the missing dimensions.

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 1% of 3,904 cities measured92
SchoolsTop 1% of 2,668 cities measured95
Housing affordability2638th of 4,223 cities measured73
ClimateTop 13% of 4,223 cities measured81
Physical resilience2877th of 4,182 cities measured41
AccessTop 14% of 4,226 cities measured99
Economic stability3324th of 4,226 cities measured43
The quick read

St. Simons ranks in the top 1% of published city profiles for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 3.0% and median household income of $108,771.

Rent takes 20% of median household income here, below the 30% threshold conventionally called cost-burdened, and the median home is 5.1 times that income.

A major airport is 7 miles away, giving the area unusually direct access to the national air network.

At a glance

Population
16,228
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$108,771
Top 14% nationally
Density
986/sq mi
16.5 sq mi of land
Median age
59.1
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Glynn County
Georgia
Metro area
Brunswick-St. Simons, GA
Nearest major airport
BQK
7 mi · Brunswick Golden Isles
Median home value
$555,600
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.0% is lower than 96% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment grew 1.7% over the past year, to 42,641 employed residents.

57% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 92% of measured US cities.

Household income is higher than at least 86% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$7,292$108,771Top 14%of 29,5732024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$6,765$74,563Top 5%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate4.5%Bottom 21%of 31,9002024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute18.9 minBottom 14%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher57.0%Top 8%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Employment42,641Bottom 46%of 3,904June 2026
Employment change (3 years)4.2%Top 9%of 3,903June 2026
Employment change (year over year)1.7%Top 6%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force43,967Bottom 46%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force participation51.3%Bottom 24%of 31,9332024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$55,010Bottom 5%of 3,6582025 OEWS
Median annual wage$41,940Bottom 2%of 3,6582025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)0.0%Bottom 45%of 3,904June 2026
Unemployment rate3.0%Bottom 4%of 3,904June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
2021202220232024109k95k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $108,771 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — Brunswick-St. Simons, GA
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Retail Salespersons1,790$30,200
Fast Food and Counter Workers1,620$26,770
Waiters and Waitresses1,510$18,250
Cashiers1,340$27,810
Registered Nurses1,010$82,630
General and Operations Managers1,000$84,770

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes city-level labor data only for places of 25,000 or more. This is the figure for Glynn County, GA, which contains this city.

70% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 64% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 12.3 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
2
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
12.3
across all schools here
Math proficiency
69.5%
Top 1% in Georgia
Reading proficiency
63.8%
Top 6% in Georgia
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Oglethorpe Point Elementary SchoolGlynn County48612.574%70%
St. Simons Elementary SchoolGlynn County46212.265%57%

56.2% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Georgia’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $1,799 takes 20% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 5.1 times median household income here, well above the historic benchmark, at a level conventionally described as seriously unaffordable.

Rent as a share of income
19.8%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
5.1×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,799
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$555,600
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income5.11Top 14%of 28,4732024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate85.9%Top 29%of 31,8432024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±48511,233Top 5%of 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$169$1,799Top 12%of 23,4322024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$47,727$555,600Top 10%of 29,3422024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income19.8%Top 42%of 23,2012024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate30.3%Top 12%of 32,0012024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →

No building-permit activity is published for this location by the Census Building Permits Survey.

Weather & climate

8 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 91°F and January a low of 44°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 45.4 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 39, in the Good band, and no day in the year passed 100.

30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station BRUNSWICK MALCOLM MCKINNON AP, 2.0 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND6.0"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index56.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation45.4"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall0.0"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low44°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high91°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months81991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10002024 calendar year
Median air quality index39.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing31°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
39
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
56
90th percentile index
Days above 100
0
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today. Air quality is measured rather than modelled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — roughly half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, and the rest show nothing rather than an estimate. Air masses are regional, so a county reading describes the air over a place reasonably well, but it is still the county reading.

Physical risk

41 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are hurricane, coastal flooding and wildfire.

HurricaneHigh
WildfireElevated
Coastal floodingElevated
EarthquakeModerate
LightningModerate

Low or minimal exposure: heat wave, cold wave, ice storm, strong wind, inland flooding, hail, tornado, winter weather, drought, landslide.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Glynn County records 4.6 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 13.9 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 12.5 per 100,000 residents in Glynn County.

Homicide
4.6
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
13.9
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
12.5
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
16.2
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Glynn County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around St. Simons rather than St. Simons itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
Offences reported to police are published by department rather than by town, and only where a department reported every month of the year. No municipal department reports for this place — many smaller communities are policed by the county — so there is no figure to show. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Taxes and full cost of living
No public source publishes either with national coverage and a method open enough to check. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings. Nothing here is individualised tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house. School attendance zones, insurance pricing and the character of a neighbourhood all vary within the places measured here.

Access

5 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 7 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Brunswick Golden IslesBQK7 mi8,001 ft
Jacksonville IntlJAX51 mi10,000 ft
Savannah/Hilton Head IntlSAV66 mi9,351 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Other cities in Brunswick-St. Simons, GA

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
BrunswickGlynn County15,307vs St. Simons

Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, once a calendar year is complete

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

ZIP codes in St. Simons

1 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
3152217,780$108,632