Photo: Locust member · CC BY 4.0Crime in Hilton Head Island: the figures, without a grade
Out to 25 miles, the count of graded towns reaches 5. Hilton Head Island reports no crime figures of its own to the FBI for 2023–2025, so there is no Safety Grade. The closest graded town is Bluffton, 11 miles away, at B+.
The nearest South Carolina towns with a Safety Grade
| Town | Grade | Distance | Violent | Property |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bluffton | B+ | 11 mi | 0.8 | 8.3 |
| Port Royal | B− | 12 mi | 1.4 | 12.6 |
| Beaufort | D | 19 mi | 4.9 | 30.1 |
| Hardeeville | B− | 19 mi | 1.5 | 14.4 |
| Ridgeland | C− | 22 mi | 2.4 | 25.9 |
| Estill | D− | 48 mi | 17.7 | 25.9 |
Straight-line distance from the center of Hilton Head Island. Nearby towns can differ a lot from Hilton Head Island.
Each town’s own police figures, per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
14 people died in crashes on Hilton Head Island’s roads in 2019–2023
Hilton Head Island had 14 fatal crashes in five years, in which 14 people died; 6 were pedestrians and 1 was a cyclist.
That is 7.4 deaths per 100,000 residents a year, below the median for South Carolina towns of 25,000–100,000 people (8.8, 20 towns).
Deaths are counted where the crash happened, not where the people lived: a highway through town adds through-traffic deaths, and residents’ own risk on roads elsewhere isn’t here. Town rates sit below state and U.S. rates because a third of fatal crashes happen outside any town. Road safety is described here and is not part of the Safety Grade. Source: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023.
Hilton Head Island and its neighbors
| Town | Grade | Violent | Property |
|---|
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- It’s reported crime. Only incidents reported to and recorded by police appear here. Many crimes are never reported to police.
- A county agency covers a wide area. Its totals mix many communities, so they say little about any one of them.
- Gaps are real gaps. A missing year means the department didn’t report a full year, not that nothing happened.
How the grade is calculated, for every town: How TownRatings grades safety →
Questions about safety in Hilton Head Island
Is Hilton Head Island, SC safe?
There is no Safety Grade for Hilton Head Island. Hilton Head Island has no FBI crime figures of its own for 2023–2025, so there is nothing to grade it on. The nearest South Carolina towns with a grade are Bluffton (B+, 11 mi), Port Royal (B−, 12 mi), Beaufort (D, 19 mi).
Heads-up board
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Neighbors looking out for each other in Hilton Head Island.
Crime: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program, Crime Data Explorer: offenses known to law enforcement by city, and state and national rates. Counts are crimes reported to police, not convictions. The Safety Grade is our own summary of that data, not an official rating. Road deaths: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023. This isn’t an official statement of public safety. In an emergency, call 911.