Would you choose living in Bluffton over Hilton Head? Statistics show many are. Here’s why

Gosia Jansen lives in a two-story house in Rose Hill, semi-retired with a backyard she describes as a wildlife preserve, not far from the gated community’s paths she walks her Bernedoodle on. Closer to Old Town Bluffton, Rolando Rico lives in a trailer, driving U.S. 278 to Hilton Head for work most days. Former Californians Allison and Bear Walters are raising their family in Bluffton’s May River Preserve, but own businesses on the island and mainland.

All of them recently moved to Bluffton despite having some connection to Hilton Head and against the popular notion that the island gained population over the last couple of years. They enjoy the substantially lower cost of living, relatively fewer tourists, accessibility to Savannah and Hilton Head, and the community the mainland offers.

In recent years, Westerns and Northerns may have been ushered South by reasons such as milder weather, more closely aligned politics and affordable living, but statistics show many are forgoing Hilton Head for its neighboring municipalities. Hilton Head’s population is plateauing at 37,660 full-time residents after immense growth in the 1970s, ‘80s and ‘90s. The island population grew 11% between 2000 and 2020 compared to Bluffton’s 2,074%.

It’s not just Beaufort County, whose population grew 55% during the same period, that’s growing at a much faster rate than Hilton Head. People like mother and daughter Karen and Jordan LeDuke, who moved from New Hampshire about a year ago, are choosing to live in Hardeeville in Jasper County, which grew 317%.

Those who elect to live off-island must weigh the downsides. They’re not as close to the beach and endure traffic over the bridge. Some Bluffton residents such as Rico, 26, are waiting until they can save up enough to make the move.

“All that traffic in the summer is definitely going to be fun,” he said, sarcastically. Rico grew up on Hilton Head, where his parents live, and said he hopes to move back someday. He relocated to a trailer in Bluffton when it was time to move out on his own, despite working at a Hilton Head pizza restaurant.

For others, it doesn’t bother them. Bear Walters, 43, who runs an indoor plant shop in Bluffton and a gym on Hilton Head is one of those people. He relocated with his wife and three children from California two years ago.

“That’s not traffic,” he said of the typical commute from Bluffton to Hilton Head, compared to California highways.

Hilton Head is ‘just so expensive.’

Bluffton and Hardeeville residents tout that they bought “double the house for a smaller price,” as Hilton Head Island residents, and it’s what Jansen said of her move from Hilton Head Island to Bluffton in the mid-2000s.

Home values on Hilton Head are more than $250,000 higher than Bluffton and $300,000 higher than Hardeeville, causing many families to look to the mainland instead of the island if they need more space. On Hilton Head the average home value is $740,720, in Bluffton, it is $487,856 and in Hardeeville, it is $416,306, according to Zillow.

“We had three little beds in there,” Jasen said, describing her triplet girls’ room in their old Windmill Harbor home. At their home in Bluffton’s Rose Hill, each triplet each had a room.

While Jansen could live on Hilton Head in a smaller home, that isn’t feasible for Rico right now.

“It’s just so expensive,” he said. However, he said he could see himself finding a home and taking a loan out to purchase it in the future.

Bluffton’s ‘downtown is pretty rad’

It’s tough luck to find a parking spot at Hilton Head restaurants in the middle of August. The lots are jam-packed and the table wait is daunting.

“You can’t eat on Hilton Head during the summer,” said Bluffton resident Linda Bellinger, who sold her home on Hilton Head two years ago after living there for 20 years.

An hour’s wait for dinner on a Tuesday night represents a larger reason people are choosing Bluffton and Hardeeville instead of Hilton Head: they’re frustrated with Hilton Head’s tourist population.

In the past year, Hardeeville had 10 short-term rentals listed compared to Bluffton’s 290 and Hilton Head Island’s 7,012, according to AirDNA, a data collection website that tracks Airbnb and Vrbo vacation rentals. That’s an 184% difference between Bluffton and Hilton Head, which matters when raising a family, according to Walters, the plant and gym store owner.

Walters didn’t consider living on Hilton Head: “I didn’t want to live with tourists,” he said. Instead, when looking to leave California they considered other South Carolina towns and cities such as Mount Pleasant and Greenville, as well as states such as Alabama and Tennessee before settling on Bluffton.

At his Bluffton-firefighter friend’s recommendation, he decided to give the town a chance. Two weeks later he fell in love with the place while visiting.

“Downtown’s pretty rad,” he said. “There’s a lot going on. It’s got a lot of charm. A lot of good people down here.”

Of those people, many are families with school-aged children, which Walters said was important considering he has three of his own.

Age

In the middle of the day, patrons can hear children from the local Montessori school laughing across the street from Fiddle and Shine, Walter’s plant shop in Old Town Bluffton. Some of those giggles may be from his kids, who attend the school.

It’s a convenient setup, and part of the reason he and his wife choose Bluffton: to be surrounded by children aged similarly to his own.

“I have a three-year-old, a ten-year-old and a 14-year-old,” Walters said. “Bluffton seemed to fit that bill quite a bit better (than Hilton Head).“

Households on the island are getting smaller and older, and less likely to include school-aged children, making families who are moving to the area consider Bluffton instead, where there are more children to raise their own alongside. Being surrounded by other families provides a support system and is a determining factor for many when deciding where to move.

On Hilton Head the average household size decreased 4.3% between 2000 and 2020, compared to 1% for other areas of Beaufort County. Its average household size is 2.19, which is less than Bluffton’s 2.73, but more than Hardeeville’s 1.96. On the island during the same period, households over 65 increased by 50% and people living alone increased by 57%. Households with children decreased by 35%.

Bluffton is moving in the opposite direction. Households with children under 18 increased by 70% from 2010 to 2020. The number of school-aged children stayed at around 20%, but since the population grew during that time, the number of children grew by about 2,400.

Age-wise, Hardeeville falls more in line with Hilton Head, which worries Hardeeville resident Jordan LeDuke, 33, who had a baby this year. However, LeDuke is hopeful that by the time her daughter is school-aged, the area’s education will improve, especially with Hardeeville’s planned development.

“That’s one thing I really like about the Bluffton area,” she said. “The school systems are for sure desirable.”

Location

What’s better than beaches and marsh views? Oftentimes for those who chose to live in Bluffton or Hardeeville: easier access to Savannah.

Bluffton and Hardeeville sit in between Hilton Head and Savannah, and the short drive to the Georgia city, and its airport, is desirable, especially to those who moved from more urban places.

“If we lack cultural exposure, we can just hop on a flight,” Jansen said. She was born in Poland, and her triplets live in New York City, Miami and Savannah. If they’re not an easy drive away, they’re an easy flight away, she said. Her husband even works part-time as a doctor in Savannah.

Bluffton and Hardeeville residents say they still appreciate the ocean, they just have to drive to the water. Something that they would probably be doing anyway even if they did live on the island because oceanfront property was out of budget, according to Walters.

“It’s a smart way of living in a tourist location,” Walters said. “You still have all the plus sides of it, but (you’re) not in it.”

This article is one in a series of explorations of the demographic changes happening in the Beaufort County area. Other installments are coming soon.