Hilton Head Island composite
41.9 /100
Grade F · weighted across 7 dims
2026 data Public-data reference. 11 dimensions compared
Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC vs Sumter, SC
Side-by-side comparison across cost of living, rent, wages, crime, schools, childcare, and environment — sourced entirely from U.S. federal data, no crowdsourced estimates.
Hilton Head Island vs Sumter: composite livability scores
Hilton Head Island and Sumter differ across eleven dimensions of livability. Hilton Head Island has a cost-of-living index of 98.0 vs Sumter's 88.0 (national average = 100). A 2-bedroom averages $1,816/mo vs $1,276/mo.
Reading the Hilton Head Island vs Sumter Comparison
Hilton Head Island (SC) and Sumter (SC) are assembled here from the same federal data pipeline — BEA Regional Price Parities, HUD Fair Market Rents, BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, FBI Uniform Crime Reports, NCES public-school counts, and EPA environmental indicators — so every number on this page is directly comparable. The overall cost index reads 98.0 for Hilton Head Island against 88.0 for Sumter, a 10.0-point gap on a scale where 100 equals the U.S. average. HUD's 2-bedroom Fair Market Rent — the figure used to set housing-choice voucher payment standards — is $1,816/mo in Hilton Head Island and $1,276/mo in Sumter, a $540/mo difference that compounds to $6,480 over a year.
Wage data is reported by metro delineation, and one of these metros is missing a BLS record for the latest OES cycle; the salary columns below fall back to available years. State-level violent crime, the most reliable geographic tier FBI UCR publishes, is 439.3 per 100,000 residents in SC vs 439.3 in SC, with property-crime rates of 1988.2 and 1988.2 respectively.
Schools are reported at the state tier by NCES: SC lists 1,215 public schools at a 14.3:1 student-teacher ratio, while SC lists 1,215 schools at 14.3:1 — a signal of class-size staffing, though individual district and school-level variation within each state is substantial. Department of Labor center-based infant care runs $7,732/yr in the Hilton Head Island area versus $7,732/yr in Sumter — a line item that shifts the real cost-of-living picture for households with children under five far more than headline RPP does. When these pieces are read together rather than in isolation, Hilton Head Island and Sumter are not simply "cheaper" or "more expensive" — they trade across dimensions, and which metro wins depends on whether your household optimizes for rent, wages, schools, childcare, safety, or environment. Treat the tables below as inputs to that trade-off, not as a single ranking.
Sumter composite
60.5 /100
Grade C · weighted across 7 dims
Cost-of-living gap
10.0 pts
Hilton Head Island vs Sumter BEA RPP
2-bed rent delta
$540 /mo
Hilton Head Island priced higher
Composite life score on the national 0–100 scale
Hilton Head Island
Hilton Head Island composite (Grade F)
Sumter
Sumter composite (Grade C)
Composite is a weighted roll-up of seven dimensions: cost (20%), wages (20%), rent (15%), safety (15%), schools (10%), childcare (10%), environment (10%). Each input normalized to a 0–100 percentile across all metros.
💰 Cost of Living PlainCost →
| Category | Hilton Head Island | Sumter |
|---|---|---|
| Overall RPP | 98.0 | 88.0 |
| Goods | 96.3 | 96.3 |
| Services | 88.1 | 87.3 |
| Rents | 101.2 | 60.8 |
Salary Equivalent Calculator
What salary in Sumter gives the same purchasing power as your salary in Hilton Head Island?
$
Equivalent in Sumter:
$89,801
Based on BEA Regional Price Parities (Hilton Head Island: 98.0, Sumter: 88.0, national avg = 100).
🏠 Rent (Fair Market Rent) PlainRent →
| Bedrooms | Hilton Head Island | Sumter |
|---|---|---|
| Studio | $1,582/mo | $880/mo |
| 1 Bedroom | $1,657/mo | $972/mo |
| 2 Bedroom | $1,816/mo | $1,276/mo |
| 3 Bedroom | $2,177/mo | $1,530/mo |
| 4 Bedroom | $2,720/mo | $1,871/mo |
🛡️ Crime Rates (state-level) PlainCrime →
| Crime Type (per 100K) | Hilton Head Island (SC) | Sumter (SC) |
|---|---|---|
| Violent Crime | 439.3 | 439.3 |
| Property Crime | 1988.2 | 1988.2 |
🎓 Schools (state-level) PlainSchools →
| Metric | SC | SC |
|---|---|---|
| Total Schools | 1,215 | 1,215 |
| Student-Teacher Ratio | 14.3:1 | 14.3:1 |
| Charter Schools | 7.2% | 7.2% |
👶 Childcare Costs (Annual Avg) (state-level) PlainChildcare →
| Age Group | SC | SC |
|---|---|---|
| Infant (Center) | $7,732/yr | $7,732/yr |
| Toddler (Center) | $7,449/yr | $7,449/yr |
| Preschool (Center) | $7,402/yr | $7,402/yr |
🌿 Environment (state-level) PlainEnviro →
| Metric | SC | SC |
|---|---|---|
| EPA Facilities | 660 | 660 |
| Water Systems | 557 | 557 |
| Superfund Sites | 34 | 34 |
| Water Violations | 647 | 647 |
Government-verified data — Air quality (EPA AQS), water safety (EPA SDWIS), healthcare access (HRSA), and disaster risk (FEMA NRI) are sourced directly from U.S. federal agencies. No crowdsourced estimates.
💨 Air Quality (EPA AQS) PlainAir →
| Metric | Hilton Head Island | Sumter |
|---|---|---|
| Median AQI | 43.4 | 43.4 |
| Good Air Days | 70.8% | 70.8% |
Air quality shown at state level (no metro-specific AQI monitoring data available).
💧 Water Safety (EPA SDWIS, state-level) PlainWater →
| Metric | SC | SC |
|---|---|---|
| Water Safety Score | 45/100 | 45/100 |
| Total Violations | 38,355 | 38,355 |
| Health-Based Violations | 9,705 | 9,705 |
| Systems with Violations | 65.3% | 65.3% |
🏥 Healthcare Access (HRSA, state-level) PlainHealthAccess →
| Metric | SC | SC |
|---|---|---|
| Healthcare Access Score | 0/100 | 0/100 |
| Population in Shortage Area | 100.0% | 100.0% |
| HPSA Designations | 264 | 264 |
HPSA = Health Professional Shortage Area, designated by HRSA. Higher access score = better healthcare availability.
⚠️ Natural Disaster Risk (FEMA NRI, state-level) PlainHazard →
| Metric | SC | SC |
|---|---|---|
| Disaster Safety Score | 36/100 | 36/100 |
| NRI Risk Score (avg county) | 70.7 | 70.7 |
| Expected Annual Loss Score | 65.2 | 65.2 |
FEMA National Risk Index (NRI) scores are county-level percentiles (0–100). Higher disaster safety score = lower relative risk. State-level values are county averages.
Crime, schools, childcare, and environment data shown at state level. Metro-specific data for these dimensions is not available.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Hilton Head Island more expensive than Sumter? ▼
Hilton Head Island has a cost of living index of 98.0 compared to Sumter's 88.0 (national average = 100). Hilton Head Island is 10.0 points above Sumter on the BEA Regional Price Parity scale.
What is the rent difference between Hilton Head Island and Sumter? ▼
A 2-bedroom apartment averages $1,816/mo in Hilton Head Island vs $1,276/mo in Sumter, based on HUD Fair Market Rent data. Studios range from $1,582/mo to $880/mo.
How do salaries compare between Hilton Head Island and Sumter? ▼
Wage data is not available for one or both metros.
Is Hilton Head Island or Sumter safer? ▼
At the state level, SC has a violent crime rate of 439.3 per 100,000 residents compared to SC's 439.3 per 100,000. Property crime rates are 1988.2 vs 1988.2 per 100,000 respectively, based on FBI Uniform Crime Report data.
How do schools compare between Hilton Head Island and Sumter? ▼
SC has 1,215 public schools with an average student-teacher ratio of 14.3:1, while SC has 1,215 schools at 14.3:1. Charter schools make up 7.2% of SC schools vs 7.2% in SC. Data from the National Center for Education Statistics.
Where does the comparison data come from? ▼
All data comes from official U.S. government sources: Bureau of Economic Analysis (cost of living), HUD (fair market rents), BLS (wages), FBI UCR (crime), NCES (schools), Department of Labor (childcare), EPA (environment, air quality, water safety), HRSA (healthcare access), and FEMA NRI (disaster risk). No crowdsourced estimates or proprietary ratings are used.
Research Guides
Explore Further
Hilton Head Island Cost of Living
BEA Regional Price Parity breakdown
Sumter Cost of Living
BEA Regional Price Parity breakdown
Hilton Head Island Rent Data
HUD Fair Market Rents by bedroom
Sumter Rent Data
HUD Fair Market Rents by bedroom
Hilton Head Island Schools
NCES school profiles and demographics
Sumter Schools
NCES school profiles and demographics
SC Crime Data
FBI UCR crime statistics
SC Crime Data
FBI UCR crime statistics
Relocate Hilton Head Island to Sumter
7-dimension relocation intelligence
Relocate Sumter to Hilton Head Island
7-dimension relocation intelligence
Data from BEA, HUD, FBI UCR, BLS OES, NCES, DOL, EPA AQS, EPA SDWIS, HRSA, and FEMA NRI. Not affiliated with the U.S. Government.
Related
Data sourced from official U.S. government datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainCompare Editorial