29928Hilton Head Island, South Carolina

Area Profile

Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 29928.

58out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 44% of 5,298 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 4% of 6,210 published ZIP areas83
GrowthTop 45% of 5,428 published ZIP areas53
Housing affordability5384th of 6,685 published ZIP areas57
ClimateTop 38% of 6,789 published ZIP areas73
Physical resilience5962nd of 6,709 published ZIP areas17
Access4961st of 6,791 published ZIP areas84
Economic stability6068th of 6,742 published ZIP areas32
The quick read

29928 ranks in the top 4% of published ZIP profiles for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 3.7% and median household income of $97,576.

Residential permitting has slowed: 138 units authorized over the past twelve months, 39% below the prior year.

Physical-risk exposure is above the national median, driven mainly by hurricane, earthquake and coastal flooding.

At a glance

Population
15,785
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$97,576
Top 21% nationally
Density
762/sq mi
20.7 sq mi of land
Median age
63.2
2024 ACS 5-Year
City
Hilton Head Island
South Carolina
Metro area
Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC
Nearest major airport
SAV
26 mi · Savannah/Hilton Head Intl
Median home value
$797,700
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.7% is lower than 78% of the 6,544 measured US ZIP areas.

Employment grew 2.1% over the past year, to 16,276 employed residents.

64% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 95% of measured US ZIP areas.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$11,726$97,576Top 21%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$7,037$91,192Top 2%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate7.6%Bottom 34%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute18.4 minBottom 9%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher63.9%Top 5%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment16,276Bottom 13%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)1.7%Top 28%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)2.1%Top 5%June 2026
Labor force16,896Bottom 13%June 2026
Labor force participation44.4%Bottom 12%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$54,860Bottom 6%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$43,850Bottom 5%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.2%Bottom 40%June 2026
Unemployment rate3.7%Bottom 22%June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202498k88k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $97,576 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 — Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Retail Salespersons3,700$33,880
Waiters and Waitresses3,390$19,830
Fast Food and Counter Workers2,440$29,550
Cashiers2,280$30,350
Home Health and Personal Care Aides2,220$30,900
Cooks, Restaurant1,730$36,820

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 does not publish labor-force data for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Hilton Head Island, SC, the city containing this ZIP code.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $1,541 takes 19% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 8.2 times median household income here, well above the historic benchmark, at a level conventionally described as seriously unaffordable.

Rent as a share of income
19.0%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
8.2×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,541
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$797,700
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income8.18Top 4%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate83.3%Top 37%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±48418,964Top 4%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$481$1,541Top 21%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$74,070$797,700Top 5%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income19.0%Top 41%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate55.4%Top 4%2024 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 →
Development Momentum
53/ 100
Top 45% of 5,428 published city profiles

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

New construction is predominantly single-family: only 0% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.

At 3.6 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US ZIP areas.

Units permitted
138
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
3.6
Top 41% nationally
Year over year
−39%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings

The Building Permits Survey is not published for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Hilton Head Island, SC, the city containing this ZIP code.

Weather & climate

6 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 92°F and January a low of 40°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 45.0 inches.

30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station BEAUFORT MCAS, 22.0 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND6.5"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation45.0"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall0.0"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low40°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high92°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months61991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing33°F1991-2020 Normals

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.

Physical risk

17 / 100
Physical resilience

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

HurricaneHigh
LightningModerate
Coastal floodingElevated
EarthquakeElevated
Ice stormModerate

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

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. ZIP values are the land-area-weighted mean of the counties the ZIP Code Tabulation Area intersects. Expected annual loss is not allocated below county level. 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.

Beaufort County records 7.0 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, higher than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 14.6 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 13.1 per 100,000 residents in Beaufort County.

Homicide
7.0
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
14.6
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
13.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
13.6
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 Beaufort 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 29928 rather than 29928 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
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
Taxes
No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Full cost of living
No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. 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.

Access

2 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 26 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Savannah/Hilton Head IntlSAV26 mi9,351 ft
Brunswick Golden IslesBQK75 mi8,001 ft
Augusta Rgnl At Bush FldAGS109 mi8,001 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.

Customize your score

What matters to you?

Choose what you weight most heavily. Nothing is saved to an account — your preferences stay in this browser, and the Area Score never changes.

Area Score
58
Your Score

Select one or more priorities to see how this location scores against them.

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)
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
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

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.

29928 vs Hilton Head Island

How this ZIP area compares with Hilton Head Island as a whole. Both figures come from the same ACS release, so the comparison is like for like.

29928
Hilton Head Island
Median household income
$97,576
vs
$94,657
Per capita income
$91,192
vs
$73,409
Population density
762/sq mi
vs
917/sq mi
Median home value
$797,700
vs
$687,400
Median gross rent
$1,541
vs
$1,479
Homeownership rate
83.3%
vs
78.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher
63.9%
vs
56.1%
Poverty rate
7.6%
vs
8.6%
Median age
63.2
vs
59.8

Some demographic statistics use Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas, which approximate but do not exactly match USPS ZIP delivery geography. See the methodology for how AreaProfile maps between them.