All homes and bedroom counts
Markets / South Carolina / Hilton Head Island
RENTAL MARKET INTELLIGENCE
Hilton Head Island, SC
Investigate selectively if you can accept modest income yield alongside positive employment and migration signals; income-first or climate-sensitive buyers should avoid it.
Median price$528k
Median rent$1,980
Gross yield4.5%
Job growth▲ 1.7%
Composite Market ScoreRank #460 of 571 scored US market areas
Direct rental answer
How much is rent in Hilton Head Island, SC?
Zillow's metro-wide Observed Rent Index is $1,980 per month for 2026-06-30. That is up 0.56% from a year earlier.
Occupied rental units paying rent
Two-bedroom standard
These figures are not averaged together. Zillow and Realtor describe asking-rent markets, ACS measures rent paid by surveyed households, and HUD publishes administrative bedroom standards.
Exact county schedules
HUD rent benchmarks inside Hilton Head Island
Every row keeps its own county FIPS schedule. No county is selected as a metro proxy and no synthetic metro FMR is calculated.
| County | Studio | 1 BR | 2 BR | 3 BR | 4 BR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beaufort County, SCFIPS 45013 | $1,582 | $1,657 | $1,816 | $2,177 | $2,720 |
| Jasper County, SCFIPS 45053 | $1,343 | $1,407 | $1,542 | $1,849 | $2,246 |
The read
Why this market scores where it does
Investigate selectively if you can accept modest income yield alongside positive employment and migration signals; income-first or climate-sensitive buyers should avoid it. Jobs rose 1.7%, net migration was 1,357 households, and incoming movers averaged $143,918 in AGI.
The opportunity is evidence of demand, not rapid rent growth. Asking rent was $1,980 and increased only 0.56%, while gross yield was 4.5%. At a $527,503 median home value and a 6.33 price-to-income ratio, entry pricing is demanding relative to local incomes.
Risk is also visible in supply and hazard exposure: permits ran at 11.69 per thousand residents, and the annual climate loss ratio was 0.5603% of building value, with hurricane wind the dominant hazard. Property-level rent, condition, competition, and hazard review is essential because this metro record does not establish an adequate margin.
Frequently Asked Investor Questions
What evidence supports tenant demand?
CES jobs grew 1.7%, moved-in households totaled 8,294 versus 6,937 moved out, and net migration was 1,357 households.
How strong are the current rental economics?
Median asking rent was $1,980, annual rent growth was 0.56%, and gross yield was 4.5%; operating expenses are not published.
What climate hazard must be underwritten?
The dominant hazard is hurricane wind, and the annual climate loss ratio is 0.5603% of building value.
Investor Quick Takeaways
Gross Yield: 4.5%
Computed from the current Zillow rent and home-value medians.
Rent Momentum: ▲ 0.56%
Zillow ZORI rent growth trend over trailing 12 months.
Investor Activity: 9.8%
Originated investment purchase share (CFPB HMDA).
Climate Exposure: FEMA NRI
Annualized loss ratio evaluated for flood & hurricane risk.
Put the evidence to work
Test the market, then test the deal
Keep Hilton Head Island as the starting point or move into a more specific property and rent check.
Run cash flowStarts with this market's measured price and rentSave to shortlistCompare this metro with up to four other placesCheck rent by ZIPMove from metro context to a local rent benchmarkFind a comparison marketRead a curated two-market decision analysisShare this analysisEmail the canonical link without adding page scriptsReport a data issueSend the figure, source and release period to review
Market pulse
The current market in eight signals
Fast-moving Redfin conditions sit beside the slower fundamentals so a buyer can separate today's negotiating climate from the long-run investment case.
Months of supply4.5 mo.▲ from 4.1 mo. a year ago
Median days on market63 days▲ from 58 days a year ago
Listings with price drops29.4%▲ from 27.4% a year ago
Sale-to-list ratio97.2%2026-05-01
Home value growth▼ 0.3%Zillow ZHVI · trailing 12 months
Rent growth▲ 0.56%Zillow ZORI · trailing 12 months
Gross rental yield4.5%Rent × 12 ÷ price
Payroll job growth▲ 1.7%CES · 12m to 2026-06
Release-to-release evidence
What actually changed
This comparison exists because at least one underlying source period advanced. Rebuilding the same data never creates a new observation.
Published score held steady36→36
0 ptsThe published component scores did not move in this release.
Weights were unchanged at metro-2026-07-v2-omb2023, so the movement comes from refreshed evidence and percentile ranks.
The named source periods advanced, but the measured values on this page held steady.
The one chart
Rents versus prices, indexed to 2019
Both series start at 100. The gap between the lines is the investment case, and which line is closing it tells you what kind of market this is.
Reindexed Price vs. Rent Growth
2019 = 100 · annual · 2019–2026
Since 2019, prices are up 68% and rents 55%. Prices running ahead of rents is what compresses yield. ✓ recomputed from series
Composite breakdown
What each component measures
Weights are published, not hidden, and the arithmetic is shown. Five components, each measured as a national percentile across all tracked metros.
Published arithmeticComponent × weight = points
36| Signal | Score | Weight | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Job growth | 94 | 30% | 28.20 |
| Rent trend | 11 | 25% | 2.75 |
| Affordability | 27 | 15% | 4.05 |
| Supply pressure | 7 | 15% | 1.05 |
| Climate risk | 1 | 15% | 0.15 |
| Published score | 36 | ||
Hilton Head Island, SC scoreRank #460
36Job growth94/100
CES job growth of 1.7% -> a positive employment signal, but industry mix is not published.
Rent trend11/100
Rent growth of 0.56% and a 4.5% gross yield -> current income momentum is limited relative to acquisition price.
Affordability27/100
A 6.33 price-to-income ratio and 28.53% rent-to-income ratio -> purchase prices and rents both require affordability scrutiny.
Supply pressure7/100
A total of 2,660 permits, 11.69 per thousand residents, and 4.5 months of supply -> new construction and resale availability belong in submarket competition checks.
Climate risk1/100
An annual climate loss ratio of 0.5603%, with hurricane wind dominant -> property-level hazard exposure is a central underwriting risk.
The numbers
What this market costs and what it earns
Every derived ratio below recomputes from the same source record used by the article and score.
ZHVI Median Price
$528k
YoY ▼ 0.3%
ZORI Median Rent
$1,980
YoY ▲ 0.56%
Gross Rental Yield
4.5%
Rent × 12 ÷ price
$1,980 × 12 ÷ $527,503
Job Growth (YoY)
▲ 1.7%
CES payrolls
Job signal 94/100
Median Household Income
$83k
Census ACS 5-year
Rent Burden
28.5%
Annual rent ÷ household income
Price-to-Income
6.3x
Median value ÷ household income
HUD 2BR Fair Market Rent
$1,679
Market rent 117.9% of FMR
Historical affordability context
Compare aligned 2019 and 2024 asking-rent and nominal household-income endpoints across the direct-overlap metro set.
Independent rent evidence
One market, several legitimate rent benchmarks
These releases observe different homes and different moments. RentMarker keeps them separate: ZORI remains the scoring baseline, while the other sources test how sensitive the market story is to bedroom mix and measurement method.
Monthly benchmark4 of 4 reported values
Zero-based scale$1,980Primary RentMarker baseline
2026-06-30
All homes and bedroom counts
A smoothed metro rent index for observed rentals; it is the primary rent used by RentMarker scores and career ratios.
View source release ↗$1,532−$448 vs ZORI
FY2026 FMR
One-bedroom standard
An administrative gross-rent benchmark used by HUD programs; it is neither a listing median nor a prediction of one lease.
View source release ↗$1,679−$301 vs ZORI
FY2026 FMR
Two-bedroom standard
An administrative gross-rent benchmark used by HUD programs; it is neither a listing median nor a prediction of one lease.
View source release ↗$1,573−$407 vs ZORI
ACS 2024 5-year
Occupied rental units paying rent
A five-year survey estimate of contract rent plus applicable tenant-paid utilities; it is not a current asking-rent index.
View source release ↗Take the next step
Keep Hilton Head Island as context, then replace market-wide evidence with the candidate property's facts.
Direct local rental evidence
Recent leases and rental-market liquidity in Hilton Head Island, SC
These Apartment List observations match the exact metro CBSA code 25940. They are kept separate from Zillow asking rent, Census occupied-home rent and property-level comparables.
Direct recent-lease rent history
Monthly overall-rent index; missing observations are not filled from another geography.
Recent-lease rent$1,5142026-07 · -3.3% year over year
Rental vacancyn/an/a
Time on marketn/an/a
Regional price level
What feels expensive inside Hilton Head Island
BEA compares each category with the United States, which equals 100. This is a 2024 price-level comparison—not annual inflation.
BEA Regional Price Parities · 2024US = 100
Occupation wage lens
How asking rent sits against major local occupations
Annualized Zillow asking rent is divided by each BLS annual median wage. This is a screening ratio for one wage, not a household budget or affordability verdict.
Six largest published major groupsannual rent ÷ median wage
Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations$31,230 median wage
76.1%
Office and Administrative Support Occupations$43,660 median wage
54.4%
Sales and Related Occupations$35,990 median wage
66.0%
Transportation and Material Moving Occupations$37,020 median wage
64.2%
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations$80,970 median wage
29.3%
Management Occupations$102,090 median wage
23.3%
Supply pipeline
What is being built, and for whom
Permits are the 12-to-24 month early warning. The total matters less than the mix: apartments compete with a rental the day they open.
National supply context
Compare this authorization pipeline with asking-rent growth, jobs and for-sale liquidity across the evidence-complete metro set.
Building permits by structure type
units per year · latest year annualised
2,616 units authorised in 2026, 0% of them in 5+ unit buildings. This is a single-family building cycle, so the competition is other houses, not new apartments. ✓ recomputed from series
Who is arriving, and who is buying
Demand, and the competition for it
Tax filings say how many households moved and what they earn; mortgage disclosures say how many local purchases went to someone who will not live there. Moves between counties inside this metro are netted out of both flow figures.
Net Household Move
+1,357
8,294 in vs 6,937 out (IRS SOI)
▲ 16.4% of arriving households
Mover Income Gap
+$64,076
Arriving $143,918 vs leaving $79,842
Average AGI per tax return (IRS SOI)
Investor Purchase Share
9.8%
459 of 4,672 originated purchase loans
CFPB HMDA 2024
Dominant Hazard
hurricane
0.560% building value annual loss ratio
FEMA NRI · risk type: wind
Compare yield and FEMA exposure →Households arrive mainly from: Chatham County · Charleston County · San Diego County · Suffolk County · Onslow County
✓ 8,294 in − 6,937 out = 1,357 netDirect market links
Where tax-return households moved from and to
These are the largest flows where both counties map to a RentMarker market area. They are a documented subset of the all-US IRS totals above.
Leading inbound markets
- New York, NY365 arriving
- Savannah, GA358 arriving
- Charleston, SC309 arriving
Leading outbound markets
- Savannah, GA494 leaving
- Charleston, SC370 leaving
- Charlotte, NC183 leaving
The other side
What would make this a bad buy
Generated from the same figures with the instruction to argue against the score, and published unedited. A page that only agrees with itself is an advertisement.
Three ways the case breaks
- A $527,503 median value paired with a 4.5% gross yield leaves a limited income cushion before operating costs, which are not published.
- The record shows 2,660 permits and price drops on 29.39% of listings, presenting competition and resale-pricing risk.
- Hurricane wind is the dominant hazard, and the annual climate loss ratio is 0.5603% of building value.
Inside this metro area
Move from the market-area average to local evidence
Use the available county and city pages to add local price, rent, housing, migration and hazard context to the market-area view.
Statistical peers
Market areas that behave like Hilton Head Island
Nearest neighbours on price level, income, yield and job growth — not on geography. Every market page gets a different peer set, which is the point.
| Market area | Score | Price | Rent | Yield | Job Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hilton Head Island, SC (Target) | 36 | $528k | $1,980 | 4.5% | ▲ 1.7% |
| St. George, UT | 46 | $531k | $1,936 | 4.4% | ▲ 2.1% |
| Salem, OR | 45 | $455k | $1,626 | 4.3% | ▲ 1.4% |
| Reno, NV | 63 | $574k | $2,004 | 4.2% | ▲ 1.9% |
| Kennewick, WA | 52 | $443k | $1,704 | 4.6% | ▲ 1.1% |
Provenance
Where every figure came from
“Checked nightly” means every source is re-pulled and re-verified each night. It does not mean every source moves nightly — the release column tells you how fresh each number can possibly be.
| Dataset Source | Method | Release Period | Pulled Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Census ACS 5-year — household income and gross rent | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-08-05 |
| Census ACS 5-year — historical household income | direct | ACS 2019 and 2024 5-year | 2026-08-05 |
| Census ACS 5-year — population | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-07-26 |
| Apartment List Rent Estimates — recent-lease rent index | direct | Apartment List 2026-07 | 2026-08-08 |
| Apartment List Time on Market — listing liquidity | direct | Apartment List 2026-07 | 2026-08-08 |
| Apartment List Vacancy Index — rental vacancy | direct | Apartment List 2026-07 | 2026-08-08 |
| BEA County Personal Income — income and population | direct | 2024 County Personal Income (released 2026-02-05); history 1969-2024 | 2026-08-03 |
| BEA Regional Price Parities — metropolitan price levels | direct | 2024 Regional Price Parities (released 2026-02-19); history 2008-2024 | 2026-08-03 |
| BLS CES — payroll employment | direct | CES SM current | 2026-07-26 |
| BLS LAUS — resident employment | direct | LAUS current | 2026-07-26 |
| BLS OEWS — occupation employment and wages | direct | May 2025 OEWS estimates (released 2026-05-15) | 2026-08-03 |
| BLS QCEW — county employment and wages | direct | annual county employment and wages 2021-2025; latest 2025 vs 2024 | 2026-08-02 |
| OMB/BLS delineation — metro geography | direct | OMB July 2023 delineation | 2026-07-30 |
| Census Building Permits Survey — permitted units | direct | BPS through 2026 | 2026-07-26 |
| Census ACS 5-year — city population, households and housing | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-07-29 |
| Census ACS 5-year — county housing value, tenure and stock | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-07-30 |
| Census ACS 5-year — cities and communities | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-07-30 |
| Census ACS five-year — ZCTA housing and income | direct | ACS 2024 5-year ZCTA | 2026-08-08 |
| FEMA National Risk Index — hazard loss ratios | modelled | NRI counties (FEMA ArcGIS) | 2026-07-26 |
| FHFA House Price Index — annual county appreciation | direct | annual county HPI history 1975-2025; latest 2025 | 2026-08-02 |
| HMDA / CFPB — purchases by occupancy type | direct | HMDA 2024 purchase originations | 2026-07-26 |
| HUD CHAS — renter burden by HAMFI income band | direct | HUD CHAS 2018-2022 ACS 5-year (released 2025-12-23) | 2026-08-03 |
| HUD Fair Market Rents — Section 8 standard | direct | FY2026 FMR | 2026-07-26 |
| HUD USPS crosswalk and Small Area FMRs — ZIP rent fallback | direct | ZIP-CBSA 2025Q4 + SAFMR FY2026 | 2026-07-26 |
| HUD-USPS ZIP-to-county residential-address crosswalk | direct | HUD-USPS 2026Q1 | 2026-08-09 |
| IRS SOI — county migration and mover income | direct | SOI migration 2022-2023 | 2026-07-26 |
| Freddie Mac PMMS — mortgage rates | direct | week of 2026-07-30 | 2026-08-06 |
| Census ACS 5-year — effective property tax | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-08-06 |
| Realtor.com Economic Research — county listing inventory | direct | county inventory 2026-06 | 2026-07-28 |
| Realtor.com Rental Report — top-50 asking rents | direct | top-50 rental asking rents 2026-05 | 2026-08-05 |
| Redfin Data Center — inventory, days on market, and price cuts | direct | metro tracker through 2026-05-01 | 2026-07-26 |
| Redfin Data Center — ZIP resale activity and supply | direct | ZIP rolling 3 months through 2026-06-30; updated 2026-07-03 | 2026-08-12 |
| USDA ERS — Rural-Urban Continuum Codes | direct | USDA ERS 2023 Rural-Urban Continuum Codes | 2026-08-02 |
| Zillow ZHVI and ZORI — county values and rents | direct | county ZHVI/ZORI 2026-06 | 2026-07-26 |
| Zillow ZHVI — metro home values | direct | Metro_zhvi_uc_sfrcondo_tier_0.33_0.67_sm_sa_month.csv | 2026-07-26 |
| Zillow ZHVI — city home values | direct | zillow_zhvi_city.csv | 2026-07-29 |
| Zillow ZORI — metro market rents | direct | Metro_zori_uc_sfrcondomfr_sm_sa_month.csv | 2026-07-26 |
| Zillow ZORI — city market rents | direct | zillow_zori_city.csv | 2026-07-29 |
| Zillow ZORI - metro market rents, not seasonally adjusted | direct | Metro_zori_uc_sfrcondomfr_sm_month.csv | 2026-08-15 |
| Zillow ZORI — ZIP market rents | direct | ZORI ZIP 2026-06 | 2026-08-08 |