Metro Life Score
Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC
Bottom-quartile composite Life Score — grade F, 0th percentile of the national corpus.
- 30.0
- Life Score / 100
- F
- Grade (curved)
- #386
- of 387 metros
- 0%
- composite percentile
Data updated August 2026
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The verdict
Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal is bottom-quartile composite Life Score — #386 of 387 (30.0/100, grade F, 0th percentile). Carried by childcare at 70/100; held back most by environment at 8/100.
- 0th
- composite percentile
- #386
- of 387 peers
- 29th
- cost dimension percentile
- 42nd
- wages dimension percentile
Life Score shape · BOTTOM · BALANCED · signature composite
Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal: bottom-third composite — where the drag concentrates
Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal sits in the bottom third of the metro corpus on composite (#386 of 387, 30.0/100, 0th percentile). Stamps BOTTOM · BALANCED; Environment at 8/100 is the main drag; Childcare (70/100) keeps the floor. Cost/wage marks DEAR/MID. According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC ranks #386 of 387 metros by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #274 of 387 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.
BEA RPP 98.0 (rent-RPP 101.2). BLS median salary $63,019, 77,390 jobs (Retail Salespersons, Waiters and Waitresses, Fast Food and Counter Workers). HUD 2BR FMR $1,816/mo (studio $1,582).
FBI UCR (SC): 439 violent, 1988 property/100K. NCES: 13.8:1 ratio, 7.2% charter. DOL infant childcare $7,732/yr. EPA: 34 Superfund sites (SC).
Where Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal sits among all US metros
Composite Life Score vs the national field
30 0th percentile higher than 0% of 387 US metros
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more US metros. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source PlainCompare composite of BEA, BLS, HUD, FBI, NCES, DOL, EPA data · August 2026
How the 30.0 is built
Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal's Life Score, decomposed
Dimension detail
How Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal scores, dimension by dimension
Score Breakdown
Dimension Scores
Key Data Points
Geography used: crime, schools, childcare, and environment cards above are SC state-level when metro-specific feeds are unavailable, see the scope key at the top of this page.
Compare Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal With...
Ranking Context
Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal outranks 0% of U.S. metros.
| Rank | Metro | Score | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| #383 | Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, SC | 32.8 | F |
| #384 | Charleston-North Charleston, SC | 33.0 | F |
| #385 | Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH | 33.0 | F |
| #386 | Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC | 30.0 | F |
| #387 | Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV | 26.2 | F |
Quality vs. Affordability
Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC is bottom 1% lowest-quality nationally and also bottom 29% least affordable -- a rarer combination among its composite-quality peers, where overall rank and affordability rank usually diverge more than this.
SC Metro Scores
Read with Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal
Nearest composite peers and cost poles for Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal (BOTTOM · BALANCED · DEAR/MID), replacing the fixed Explore/Guides strip.
Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, SC
ABS(composite) peer at 32.8 (Δ 2.8 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade F vs this page's BOTTOM · BALANCED · DEAR/MID.
Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH
ABS(composite) peer at 33.0 (Δ 3.0 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade F vs this page's BOTTOM · BALANCED · DEAR/MID.
Charleston-North Charleston, SC
ABS(composite) peer at 33.0 (Δ 3.0 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade F vs this page's BOTTOM · BALANCED · DEAR/MID.
Kingston, NY
ABS(composite) peer at 33.3 (Δ 3.3 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade F vs this page's BOTTOM · BALANCED · DEAR/MID.
Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 29/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp DEAR vs this metro's DEAR.
Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 30/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp DEAR vs this metro's DEAR.
Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC relocation guide
Stamp-branched guide for BOTTOM · BALANCED · DEAR/MID - how to read federal Life Score inputs before a move.
Using Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal's bottom-third Life Score
Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal scores 30.0/100 overall, but Childcare (70.0) and Environment (7.8) sit 62.2 points apart, so decide which of the two matters more to you before leaning on the total.
- Childcare is the strongest of Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal's seven dimensions (weighted 10% in the composite); if it is your priority, this is where the metro earns its rank. See all seven dimensions
- Environment is the weakest (weighted 10% in the composite); if it is a dealbreaker, weigh it before the ranking does. Rank metros on the composite
- Florence is the nearest comparison this page can offer; put the two side by side on the same seven dimensions. Compare with Florence
A low composite is a weighted blend; individual dimensions can still be strong.