Living in Bluffton, SC

Beaufort County

Bluffton's defining, genuinely verifiable identity is explosive growth: World Population Review's 2026 estimate puts the town at 38,825 residents, up 37.19% since the 2020 Census count of 28,300, though sourcing on the exact current figure and growth rate disagreed meaningfully this pass -- a separate citation using the same Census data series put the 2024 figure at 35,243 with growth from 13,107 in 2010, a 175.8% increase over 14 years, and historically Bluffton grew 882.7% between the 2000 and 2010 Census, once the fastest-growing South Carolina municipality of its size class. Forbes has named Bluffton to its list of great places to retire, describing it as a Lowcountry coastal village between Savannah and Hilton Head with a mild, 76°F/57°F average climate, roughly 52 inches of rain a year, no snow, and good air quality. Relocation and real estate coverage consistently attributes Bluffton's growth in real part to families, retirees, and remote workers seeking the same Lowcountry lifestyle as Hilton Head Island at a real, if not dramatic, discount -- Bluffton's own sourced median/average home prices this pass ($468,661-$609,900 depending on source) run meaningfully below Hilton Head's own $767,000 citywide median disclosed elsewhere in this dataset, even though 'more affordable than Hilton Head' still means genuinely expensive in absolute, national terms. Sun City Hilton Head, South Carolina's largest active-adult community, sits within Bluffton specifically, anchoring the town's real retiree draw alongside newer master-planned communities like Hampton Lake and New Riverside. Bluffton sits on the mainland side of the May and Okatie Rivers -- genuinely more inland and protected than barrier-island Hilton Head -- but remains squarely inside Beaufort County's real, single-zone hurricane evacuation area; this is honest, disclosed coastal exposure, not the essentially-zero hurricane risk of Upstate SC markets. Crime reads favorably by one major source (CrimeGrade's A- grade, 49% below the national rate) with a real, disclosed less-flattering framing from a second (NeighborhoodScout's violent-crime rate reads as 'about average' nationally). Schools split meaningfully within the same district: Bluffton High School (Niche A, ranked #1 of Beaufort County's public high schools) reads considerably stronger than Bluffton Elementary (B+). South Carolina's real, two-bracket Act 110 income tax structure (1.99%/5.21%) applies here as statewide, with Social Security fully exempt and coordinated, capped retiree deductions.

Explore Bluffton in depth

• Moving to Bluffton: Pros, Cons & What to Know
• Cost of Living in Bluffton
• Housing Market in Bluffton
• Buying a Home in Bluffton
• Renting in Bluffton
• Taxes in Bluffton
• Homeowners Insurance & Natural Hazard Costs in Bluffton
• Climate & Weather in Bluffton
• Jobs & Economy in Bluffton
• Schools in Bluffton
• Crime & Safety in Bluffton
• Healthcare in Bluffton
• Traffic & Transportation in Bluffton
• Best Areas to Live in Bluffton
• Pros and Cons of Living in Bluffton
• Retiring in Bluffton
• Who Should / Shouldn’t Move to Bluffton

Housing

Taxes

The tradeoffs

Who this fits

Best for: Retirees and families drawn to a genuinely fast-growing, Forbes-recognized Lowcountry community at a real, documented discount to Hilton Head Island's own housing costs, and who specifically want access to established active-adult communities like Sun City Hilton Head or newer master-planned developments like Hampton Lake and New Riverside.

Maybe not for you if: Buyers seeking true no-income-tax or genuinely low-cost housing should weigh Bluffton's real, elevated prices (still well above the national median even at a discount to Hilton Head) and South Carolina's real two-bracket income tax against those priorities. Anyone assuming Bluffton's more-inland position means no hurricane exposure should review the real, county-wide Beaufort County evacuation-zone reality on the insurance-hazard-costs page first.