29935 — Port Royal, South Carolina
Area Profile
Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 29935. Its median home value runs 24% below Port Royal as a whole, which is why this ZIP carries a profile of its own.
How this area ranks
Data updated · 14 sources29935 ranks in the top 11% of ZIP areas measured for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 3.7% and median household income of $76,544. The unemployment rate is published for Port Royal, SC, which contains 29935, rather than for 29935 alone.
In the public schools here, 44% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 8.3 students for every teacher. Math proficiency and 1 other measure here are published for Port Royal, SC, which contains 29935, rather than for 29935 alone.
Housing is more affordable relative to local incomes than in most ZIP areas measured: rent takes 27% of renter income and the median home is 2.9 times what its owners earn.
These sentences are written by fixed rules from the measurements below — a statement appears because a number crossed a stated threshold, and the values behind it are stored with it. No figure anywhere on this site is invented, estimated or inferred to fill a gap. How this works.
At a glance
Jobs & opportunity
Unemployment across Port Royal, SC, which contains 29935, is 3.7%, lower than in 75% of the 3,127 measured US ZIP areas.
Employment across Port Royal, SC, which contains 29935, grew 2.3% over the past year, to 86,072 employed residents.
39% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 79% of measured US ZIP areas.
| Metric | Value | Compared nationally | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Income of new arrivalsBeaufort County, SC’s figurefiling years 2022–2023 | $146,541 | 98th percentileof 2,996 | filing years 2022–2023 |
| Income of those who leftBeaufort County, SC’s figurefiling years 2022–2023 | $81,455 | 74th percentileof 2,996 | filing years 2022–2023 |
| Median household income ±$24,4022024 ACS 5-Year | $76,544 | Top 42%of 31,049 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Per capita income ±$8,3842024 ACS 5-Year | $40,332 | Top 38%of 32,822 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Poverty rate ±8%2024 ACS 5-Year | 12.9% | Bottom 38%of 32,846 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Average commute ±4.4 min2024 ACS 5-Year | 20.8 min | Top 16%of 32,887 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Bachelor's degree or higher ±10%2024 ACS 5-Year | 39.5% | Top 21%of 33,193 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Drove alone to work ±10%2024 ACS 5-Year | 80.8% | 69th percentileof 32,798 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| EmploymentPort Royal, SC’s figureJuly 2026 | 86,072 | Top 34%of 3,127 | July 2026 |
| Employment change (3 years)Port Royal, SC’s figureJuly 2026 | +2.7% | Top 16%of 3,127 | July 2026 |
| Employment change (year over year)Port Royal, SC’s figureJuly 2026 | +2.3% | Top 7%of 3,127 | July 2026 |
| Labor forcePort Royal, SC’s figureJuly 2026 | 89,424 | 66th percentileof 3,127 | July 2026 |
| Labor force participation ±11%2024 ACS 5-Year | 73.8% | Bottom 34%of 32,883 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Mean annual wageHilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC Metro Area’s figure2025 OEWS | $54,860 | Bottom 8%of 2,760 | 2025 OEWS |
| Median annual wageHilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC Metro Area’s figure2025 OEWS | $43,850 | Bottom 6%of 2,760 | 2025 OEWS |
| Public transit to work ±0.7%2024 ACS 5-Year | 0.0% | 1st percentileof 32,798 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Unemployment change (year over year)Port Royal, SC’s figureJuly 2026 | −0.7% | Top 17%of 3,127 | July 2026 |
| Unemployment ratePort Royal, SC’s figureJuly 2026 | 3.7% | Top 25%of 3,127 | July 2026 |
| Worked from home ±6%2024 ACS 5-Year | 8.0% | 41st percentileof 32,798 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
Median household income, successive ACS releases
Largest occupations — Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC
| Occupation | People employed | Median annual wage |
|---|---|---|
| Retail Salespersons | 3,700 | $33,880 |
| Waiters and Waitresses | 3,390 | $19,830 |
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | 2,440 | $29,550 |
| Cashiers | 2,280 | $30,350 |
| Home Health and Personal Care Aides | 2,220 | $30,900 |
| Cooks, Restaurant | 1,730 | $36,820 |
Searches the 40 largest occupations here that have a published wage.
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 Port Royal, SC, the city containing this ZIP code.
44% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 40% in reading, across the schools here that reported results. Math proficiency and 1 other measure here are published for Port Royal, SC, which contains 29935, rather than for 29935 alone.
There are 8.3 students for every full-time teacher across 1 public school, fewer than in most measured places. The student-teacher ratio is published for Port Royal, SC, which contains 29935, rather than for 29935 alone.
The proficiency and staffing figures above are for Port Royal, SC: too few schools in 29935 reported a usable figure on their own to weight one honestly. The schools listed below are this place’s own.
| School | District | Students | Per teacher | Math | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Port Royal Elementary | Beaufort 01 | 179 | 7.8 | 47% | 37% |
Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data, placed by ZIP code — which schools are in this place, not which one a particular address is zoned for. A dash in a proficiency column is a gap in the federal file, not a bad result. Proficiency is measured against South Carolina’s own standard, so it is ranked within state. How to read school figures.
Housing & affordability
How it’s calculated — housing affordability →Prices for everything a household buys run about 4% below the national average — the Bureau of Economic Analysis index reads 96.0, against 100 for the nation. Nationally, housing drives most of the spread between places in this index; other goods vary far less.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s house price index for the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC Metro Area is up 64% over five years, and up 2.7% over the last year. It follows repeat sales of the same homes, so it measures price change rather than which homes happened to sell.
Homeowners here who pay a tax bill pay a median of $1,714 a year in real estate taxes.
HUD’s Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom, set near the 40th percentile of recent new leases, is $1,816, some 29% above the $1,404 tenants already here pay.
At HUD’s Fair Market Rent of $1,816 a month for a two-bedroom, keeping rent to 30% of income takes a household income of about $72,600 a year, about 95% of the median household income here of $76,544.
The typical renter household here spends 27% of its income on rent, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $1,404 a month.
A median home at $263,700 costs 2.9 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $90,793, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.
Prices here run about 4% below the national average. The spread between places is driven mostly by housing — goods vary far less — and this excludes taxes.
Published for the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC Metro Area as a whole. Prices are regional — people shop, commute and rent across a metropolitan area rather than within a city boundary — so this describes the cost of living around this place better than a figure drawn to its own limits would.
The figures above are measured against 29935’s median household income of $76,544, which describes the place rather than you. Enter your own and the ratio is recomputed against it. It stays in this browser.
| Metric | Value | Compared nationally | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost of living indexthe Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC Metro Area’s figure2023 | 96.0 | Top 41%of 2,737 | 2023 |
| Home price change (1 year)the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2 | +2.7% | 43rd percentileof 3,071 | 2026 Q2 |
| Home price change (5 years)the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2 | +63.8% | 98th percentileof 3,071 | 2026 Q2 |
| Home price change (10 years)the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2 | +130.7% | 94th percentileof 3,071 | 2026 Q2 |
| Home price to income ±22024 ACS 5-Year | 2.9 | Bottom 43%of 29,275 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Homeownership rate ±10%2024 ACS 5-Year | 36.3% | 4th percentileof 32,750 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Housing units ±3532024 ACS 5-Year | 2,078 | 58th percentileof 33,460 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Market rent, one bedroomFY2026 | $1,657 | Bottom 28%of 3,031 | FY2026 |
| Market rent, three bedroomFY2026 | $2,177 | Bottom 42%of 3,031 | FY2026 |
| Market rent, two bedroomFY2026 | $1,816 | Bottom 33%of 3,031 | FY2026 |
| Median gross rent ±$762024 ACS 5-Year | $1,404 | Bottom 25%of 26,396 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Median home value ±$114,7392024 ACS 5-Year | $263,700 | 61st percentileof 30,812 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Median property taxes ±$5852024 ACS 5-Year | $1,714 | 43rd percentileof 28,935 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Owner household income ±$33,3692024 ACS 5-Year | $90,793 | Top 39%of 29,802 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Rent as a share of income ±8%2024 ACS 5-Year | 27.0% | Top 42%of 26,247 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Seasonal and second homes ±712024 ACS 5-Year | 59 | 66th percentileof 33,772 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year | 2.8% | 64th percentileof 32,961 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year | 11.5% | 73rd percentileof 32,788 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Vacant housing units ±1742024 ACS 5-Year | 299 | 63rd percentileof 33,772 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
These measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with. They compare housing cost with local earnings only: transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not in them. How to read affordability, the two rent figures and the cost-of-living index.
Growth & development
How it’s calculated — growth →Development Momentum
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: of 53 units permitted over the past twelve months, none were in buildings of five or more homes. The multifamily share is published for Port Royal, SC, which contains 29935, rather than for 29935 alone.
At 3.4 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US ZIP areas. The permit rate is published for Port Royal, SC, which contains 29935, rather than for 29935 alone.
People moving in and out
Where newcomers came from
- Jasper County, SC 639 people · 4.8% of arrivals
- San Diego County, CA 336 people · 2.5% of arrivals
- Onslow County, NC 309 people · 2.3% of arrivals
- Chatham County, GA 307 people · 2.3% of arrivals
- Charleston County, SC 300 people · 2.2% of arrivals
Where people who left went
- Jasper County, SC 1,185 people · 10% of departures
- Chatham County, GA 412 people · 3.5% of departures
- Charleston County, SC 358 people · 3.0% of departures
- San Diego County, CA 283 people · 2.4% of departures
- Onslow County, NC 231 people · 2.0% of departures
Based on the address on federal tax returns, compared with the same filers a year earlier. It counts people who file, and sees a move only when the address on a return changes. Domestic moves only: people arriving from abroad are left out. This is the figure for Beaufort County, SC. IRS Statistics of Income, filing years 2022–2023.
The Building Permits Survey is not published for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Port Royal, 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.
Precipitation
| Metric | Value | Source period |
|---|---|---|
| Annual precipitation1991-2020 Normals | 45.0" | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Annual snowfall1991-2020 Normals | 0.0" | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average January low1991-2020 Normals | 40°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average July high1991-2020 Normals | 92°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Comfortable months1991-2020 Normals | 6 | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Seasonal temperature swing1991-2020 Normals | 33°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. How to read climate and air quality.
Physical risk
The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are hurricane, inland flooding and earthquake, with hurricane alone responsible for 78% of it. Inland flooding is independently rated low or minimal nationally, so this describes how the loss is composed, not how large that hazard is.
Low or minimal exposure: wildfire, heat wave, strong wind, tornado, inland flooding, cold wave, winter weather, hail, drought, landslide, tsunami, volcanic activity, avalanche.
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 offenses — they say nothing about burglary, theft or assault.
Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides, so the firearm figure and the homicide figure above it count some of the same deaths twice over. They overlap and should not be added together.
Death rates are crude rates — deaths divided by population, not adjusted for age — except where a count was too small for the CDC to publish and it modeled the rate, which the card marks. They come from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC by county and not below it. So they describe the county around 29935 (Beaufort County) rather than 29935 itself. They are shown and not scored. How to read death rates.
What this profile does not cover
Each of these is absent for a reason, not by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them; the weighting is on the methodology page.
- Reported crime
- Offenses reported to police are published by department rather than by town, so AreaProfile shows a rate only on city profiles, and only where that city’s department submitted every month of a year. A ZIP area is not a jurisdiction, so no department reports for one. Port Royal carries the figure where its department reported a full year. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
- Air quality
- The EPA publishes an air-quality index only where a monitor sits. There is none in this county, and a modeled value would be a different kind of number from the measured ones everywhere else on this page.
- Taxes
- Income and sales taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Property taxes are shown in the housing section but are not part of the score. The cost-of-living index above is a price level for all consumption, not a household budget, and it excludes taxes. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
- Anything about a specific address
- Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house.
Access
3 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest Savannah/Hilton Head Intl at 34 miles.
| Metric | Value | Compared nationally | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Broadband access ±8%2024 ACS 5-Year | 92.0% | Top 36%of 32,663 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Distance to major airportNASR current cycle | 34 mi | Bottom 25%of 3,127 | NASR current cycle |
| Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle | 3 | Bottom 21%of 3,127 | NASR current cycle |
| No internet access ±6%2024 ACS 5-Year | 8.0% | Bottom 49%of 32,663 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Airport | Code | Distance | Longest runway |
|---|---|---|---|
| Savannah/Hilton Head Intl | SAV | 34 mi | 9,351 ft |
| Charleston AFB/Intl | CHS | 52 mi | 9,001 ft |
| Brunswick Golden Isles | BQK | 90 mi | 8,001 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.
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Similar places
Matched on AreaProfile signals, not geographyData & methodology
| Used for | Source | Source period |
|---|---|---|
| Access | Federal Aviation Administration Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service | NASR current cycle |
| Physical risk | Federal Emergency Management Agency National Risk Index | National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0) |
| Demographics, Income | Internal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income Division U.S. Population Migration Data (county to county) | filing years 2022–2023 |
| Climate | NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly) | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Housing | U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional price parities and county personal income | 2023 |
| Jobs | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics | 2025 OEWS |
| Jobs | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Local Area Unemployment Statistics | July 2026 |
| Access, Demographics, Housing, Income, Jobs | U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File) | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Development | U.S. Census Bureau Building Permits Survey | 12 months ending July 2026 |
| Demographics | U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program | July 1, 2024 estimate |
| Safety | U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics Provisional county-level mortality by intent | March 2025 to February 2026; May 2025 to April 2026 |
| Schools | U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments | 2018-19 school year; 2024-25 school year |
| Housing | U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research Fair Market Rents | FY2026 |
| Housing | U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency House Price Index (traditional, all-transactions) | 2026 Q2 |
| Current conditions | NOAA National Weather Service National Weather Service current conditions | Live observation, read when the page opens |
Profile recalculated October 8, 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 every source with how often each updates.
29935 vs Port Royal
How this ZIP area compares with Port Royal as a whole. Both figures come from the same ACS release, so the comparison is like for like — a gap here is a real difference between the two places, not two surveys disagreeing.
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.