Skip to content
CityLedger

Barnstable Town vs Hilton Head Island

Metro-area medians — Barnstable Town, MA Metro Area vs Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC Metro Area — not the cities proper.

Barnstable Town comes out ahead, winning 3 of the 5 clearly-decided measures.

Barnstable Town and Hilton Head Island are closely matched on both cost of living and household income. Adjusted for local prices, a typical paycheck stretches about as far in either.

For your salary & household

Enter your pay and household size to see what it's really worth here — the numbers update live and the link stays shareable.

Barnstable Town, MA
$57,564
take-home / yr · 23% to tax
$58,529
real value after local prices
Hilton Head Island, SC
$58,400
take-home / yr · 22% to tax
$59,582
real value after local prices

On $75,000 for just you, Hilton Head Island leaves you about $1,053/yr better off after tax and local prices.

Take-home estimates a single filer taking the standard deduction (2025 federal brackets, FICA, and state income tax) and isn't tax advice. “Real value” rebases take-home to average U.S. prices using the BEA cost-of-living index; the per-person figure uses the OECD square-root equivalence scale.

Measure
Barnstable Town
Hilton Head Island
Livability (CityLedger)
70/100
72/100
Cost of living (price level, US = 100)
98.4
98.0
Cost-adjusted income (pay's real value)
$89,399
$90,135
Median household income
$87,925
$88,348
Median rent
$1,577/mo
$1,903/mo
Median home value
$692,900
$511,100
Unemployment
5.5%
2.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher
50.5%
42.9%
Average commute
24.8 min
26.5 min
Air quality (median AQI)
36
—
Avg temperature
52°F
67°F

Choose Barnstable Town for

  • + Median rent
  • + Bachelor's degree or higher
  • + Average commute
Full Barnstable Town profile →

Choose Hilton Head Island for

  • + Median home value
  • + Unemployment
Full Hilton Head Island profile →

Barnstable Town vs Hilton Head Island — frequently asked

Is Barnstable Town cheaper than Hilton Head Island?
They are about even — the overall cost of living in the Barnstable Town and Hilton Head Island metros is within 3% of each other (BEA Regional Price Parities), so neither is meaningfully cheaper.
Which has higher household income, Barnstable Town or Hilton Head Island?
Household incomes are similar — $87,925 in the Barnstable Town metro versus $88,348 in Hilton Head Island (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS).
Does a paycheck go further in Barnstable Town or Hilton Head Island?
It is roughly a wash. After adjusting income for local prices, a typical paycheck is worth about the same in both metros ($89,399 versus $90,135).
Which has cheaper rent, Barnstable Town or Hilton Head Island?
Barnstable Town has cheaper rent — a median of $1,577/mo versus $1,903/mo (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS).