BurtonSC
A town of 6,912.
Is Burton a good place to live?
Burton gives you more for your money than most places: a typical home costs about $248K, 3 years of the Hilton Head Island metro’s $83K median household income. It grades B− overall, 52nd of 167 graded towns in South Carolina. The low prices come with trade-offs. FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 98% of U.S. communities, with hurricanes at the top. Among 169 South Carolina towns, just 6 have a higher January low than Burton. The biggest park or preserve is Burton Wells Passive Park, at 36 acres. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 70% of U.S. towns.
What makes Burton stand out
Where Burton beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
Jobs vs. working residents
| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| Robert Smalls Leadership Academy | PK–8 | 785 |
| Broad River Elementary | PK–5 | 467 |
| Battery Creek High | 9–12 | 809 |
Every workday, about 5,019 people come to Burton for work
Where Burton’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
How Burton grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within South Carolina), ordered by how far Burton is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Burton: who provides what
Burton is unincorporated, so Beaufort County and regional agencies provide most services.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Sep 12, 2025.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Burton.
Burton draws workers from Bluffton and beyond, but it carries more natural-hazard risk than most of South Carolina (mostly hurricanes) and scores below Laurel Bay and its other neighbors on health.
About one in nine working residents works right in Burton
5,264 jobs are based in Burton, 2.3 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in. Jobs based here grew from 2,033 in 2013 to 5,264.
Most working residents leave Burton for work: only 11% work in town. Since 2013, Burton has added 3,231 jobs, to 5,264 in 2023. 12% of Burton residents live below the poverty line, against 17% in South Carolina’s towns and 9.6% across U.S. towns.
| Burton | South Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 12% | 17% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 11% | 6.1% | 8% |
| Median household income | $68,000 | $57,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 26 minutes | 24 minutes | 25 minutes |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Public schools in Burton beat 74% of South Carolina districts
Its public schools are run by the Beaufort 01 school district. Two of its 4 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Battery Creek High, with 809 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Robert Smalls Leadership AcademyLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–8 | Grades PK–8 | 785 | D |
| Battery Creek HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 809 | A− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within SC on state tests and graduation
Very high risk in Burton, with hurricanes at the top
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 95% of South Carolina towns; that rating is what its D− for hazard risk is built on.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
In Burton, expect mild winters and hot summers
Burton has warm winters and warm summers, with plenty of rain. Burton’s July high is 91°F, near the South Carolina town median (91°F) and above the median of U.S. towns (85°F).
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Residents of Burton are less healthy than 54% of U.S. towns
All 4 graded neighbors score healthier than its B−, from Laurel Bay (B+) to Port Royal (A).
Burton beats the South Carolina average on 1 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 5. 20% of adults have been diagnosed with depression in Burton.
| Burton | South Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 23% | 23% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 24% | 21% | 14% |
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 13% | 8.1% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 33% | 33% |
| What stands out | Burton | SC |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 7.1% | 8.6% |
| More adults facing food insecurity | 23.7% | 17.4% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Burton has set aside 2.4% of its land for conservation
0.1 miles of trail in 1 park or preserve.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Burton Wells Passive Park | — | 36 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Homes in Burton sell for about $350K
60% of Burton households own their home.
| Burton | South Carolina towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 60% | 65% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,229 a month | $1,058 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Mercer House and 27 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Burton. Close and well known come first.
32 mi MuseumMercer House
28 mi National MonumentFort Pulaski National Monument321K visitors a year
9 mi Ancient siteCharlesfort-Santa Elena Site
32 mi MuseumSorrel–Weed House
36 mi State parkWormsloe Historic Site
18 mi State parkHunting Island State ParkPhoto credits
Mercer House: Kyle Kesselring from Canal Winchester, OH, CC BY 2.0 · Fort Pulaski National Monument: Edibobb, CC BY 3.0 · Charlesfort-Santa Elena Site: Arman Manookian, Public domain · Sorrel–Weed House: Unknown, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wormsloe Historic Site: Bubba73, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Hunting Island State Park: The original uploader was Cdamgen at English Wikipedia., Public domain
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Everything we know about Burton
Colleges nearby
1 within 15 miles of the center of Burton
About 5 of every 100 Burton residents are enrolled in college, about the same as South Carolina.
About Burton
CDP in South Carolina, United States
Burton is a census-designated place (CDP) on Port Royal Island in Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 6,976 at the 2010 census. As defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, Burton is included within the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Beaufort, SC Metropolitan Statistical Area.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 8.5 sq mi
- Elevation
- 33 ft
Burton’s neighbors
4 towns share a border with Burton.
| Town | SC rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Burton | #52 | B− | B | — | B+ | B− |
| Beaufort | #88 | C | C+ | D | B+ | A− |
| Port Royal | #35 | B | C− | B− | B+ | A |
| Shell Point | — | — | B+ | — | B+ | A− |
| Laurel Bay | #98 | C | C+ | — | B+ | B+ |
Shell Point has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Burton, Shell Point and Laurel Bay report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Burton with a neighbor →
Questions about Burton
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Burton, SC a good place to live?
Burton grades B− overall, better than 54% of U.S. towns and #52 of 167 in South Carolina. It grades B− for health and B+ for schools. Hazard risk is its weak spot, with a D−.
Is Burton, SC expensive?
The typical home is worth about $248,000, 19% below the South Carolina typical home. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B.