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Kiawah Island, SC

This is a small community in a single neighborhood. As throughout the site, some neighborhood-level data are reserved for subscribers.





Overview


Kiawah Island is a very small coastal town (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of South Carolina. With a population of 1,988 people and just one neighborhood, Kiawah Island is the 138th largest community in South Carolina.

Kiawah Island home prices are not only among the most expensive in South Carolina, but Kiawah Island real estate also consistently ranks among the most expensive in America.

Occupations and Workforce

Kiawah Island is a decidedly white-collar town, with fully 98.19% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Kiawah Island is a town of managers, professionals, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Kiawah Island who work in healthcare (20.54%), management occupations (19.64%), and business and financial occupations (19.18%).

Of important note, Kiawah Island is also a town of artists. Kiawah Island has more artists, designers and people working in media than 90% of the communities in America. This concentration of artists helps shape Kiawah Island’s character.

Also of interest is that Kiawah Island has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.

A relatively large number of people in Kiawah Island telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 52.21% of the workforce works from home. While this may seem like a small number, as a fraction of the total workforce it ranks among the highest in the country. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes.

Setting & Lifestyle

Another notable thing is that Kiawah Island is an extremely popular vacation destination. A significant portion of the population is seasonal. During the vacation season, the town experiences a large influx of people who take up residence in second homes they own in the area. As the vacation season ends, the population drops again, leaving behind a substantially quieter and smaller town.

It is a fairly quiet town because there are relatively few of those groups of people who have a tendency to be noisy. (Children, for example, often can't help themselves from being noisy, and being parents ourselves, we know!) Kiawah Island has relatively few families with children living at home, and is quieter because of it. Renters and college students, for their own reasons, can also be noisy. Kiawah Island has few renters and college students. But the biggest reason it is quieter in Kiawah Island than in most places in America, is that there are just simply fewer people living here. If you think trees make good neighbors, Kiawah Island may be for you.

One of the nice things about Kiawah Island is that it is nautical, which means that parts of it are somewhat historic and touch the ocean or tidal bodies of water, such as inlets and bays. Because of this, visitors and locals will often go to these areas to take in the scenery or to enjoy waterfront activities.

In Kiawah Island, however, the average commute to work is quite long. On average, people spend 33.67 minutes each day getting to work, which is significantly higher than the national average.

Demographics

If knowledge is power, Kiawah Island is a pretty powerful place. 86.93% of the adults in Kiawah Island have earned a 4-year college degree, masters degree, MD, law degree, or even PhD. Compare that to the national average of 21.84% for all cities and towns.

The per capita income in Kiawah Island in 2022 was $197,853, which is wealthy relative to South Carolina and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $791,412 for a family of four.

The people who call Kiawah Island home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Kiawah Island residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in Kiawah Island include English, Irish, German, Italian, and French.

The most common language spoken in Kiawah Island is English. Other important languages spoken here include Polish and French.

Notable & Unique Neighborhood Characteristics

The way a neighborhood looks and feels when you walk or drive around it, from its setting, its buildings, and its flavor, can make all the difference. This neighborhood has some really cool things about the way it looks and feels as revealed by NeighborhoodScout's exclusive research. This might include anything from the housing stock to the types of households living here to how people get around.

Real Estate

is a neighborhood that is on the ocean, a bay, or inlet. Many times, such places have amenities that bring locals and visitors to the waterfront for recreational activities or to check out the scenery. In some densely populated areas that are less financially well-off, the neighborhood waterfront can be relatively industrial and less open to recreation. In addition to being coastal, is a very nautical neighborhood, meaning that it is somewhat historic, walkable, densely populated and on the water. This gives the neighborhood a very nautical feel, with some seaside and shipping feel, which some may really enjoy the sights and sounds of. One of the notable things about is that it is one of the quietest neighborhoods in America, according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis and quantitative rating of quietness. When you are here, you will find it to be very quiet. If quiet and peaceful are your cup of tea, you may have found a great place for you.

In addition, owner-occupied real estate dominates the neighborhood. In fact, according to NeighborhoodScout research, the percentage of residential real estate occupied by its owner is higher here than in 99.1% of neighborhoods in America. Vacant homes and apartments are a significant characteristic of this neighborhood. In fact, with 70.8% of the residential real estate vacant, the neighborhood claims the distinction of having a higher vacancy rate than 99.7% of the neighborhoods in America. This can either be because much of the property is seasonally occupied, like in many vacation areas, or that much of the real estate is more permanently abandoned.

People

Wealth makes most things in life easier, and a few things harder. If you are wealthy and enjoy keeping up with the Jones', this neighborhood will interest you. In fact, according to NeighborhoodScout's research, the neighborhood is wealthier than 98.8% of the neighborhoods in the United States. Residents here are truly in a unique situation even when compared to other Americans, based on the sheer amount of wealth concentrated here. Even in times of economic downturn, residents of this neighborhood, as a group, suffered less and recovered more quickly. This is indeed a stand-out characteristic of this neighborhood. As one would expect in a considerably wealthy neighborhood such as this, also has one of the lowest ratings of child poverty in the nation.

In addition, astoundingly, NeighborhoodScout's research reveals that this single neighborhood has a higher concentration of married couples living here than 100.0% of all U.S. neighborhoods. Whether they have school-aged children or not, married couples are the rule in the neighborhood. If you are a married couple, you may find many people here with a similar lifestyle, and perhaps common interests. But if you are single, you might not find many other singles here.

Also, a majority of the adults in the neighborhood are wealthy and educated executives. They own stately homes that tend to maintain high real estate appreciation rates. Their upper-level careers keep them busy, but allow them to live comfortably. If you're an executive and want to keep similar company, consider settling in this neighborhood, rated as an executive lifestyle "best choice" neighborhood for South Carolina by NeighborhoodScout's analysis, which rated it as better for executive lifestyles than 99.8% of the neighborhoods in South Carolina. In addition to being an excellent choice for highly educated executives, this neighborhood is also a very good choice for active retirees and urban sophisticates.

Finally, the rate of college educated adults in the neighborhood is a unique characteristic of the neighborhood. 86.9% of adults here have received at least a 4-year bachelor's degree, compared to the average neighborhood in America, which has 34.3% of the adults with a bachelor's degree. The rate here is higher than NeighborhoodScout found in 99.3% of all U.S. neighborhoods.

Modes of Transportation

A unique way of commuting is simply not to. And in the neighborhood, analysis shows that 52.2% of the residents work from home, avoiding a commute altogether. This may not seem like a large number, but it is a higher proportion of people working from home than is found in 99.9% of the neighborhoods in the United States. One thing NeighborhoodScout's research reveals is that the wealthier and/or more isolated the neighborhood, the greater the proportion of residents who choose to work from home.

Occupations

Executives, managers and professionals make up 77.5% of the workforce in the neighborhood which, according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis, is a higher proportion of such high-level people than is found in 98.5% of the neighborhoods in America. For this reason, this neighborhood really stands out as unique.

Diversity

Did you know that the neighborhood has more Armenian and Scots-Irish ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 2.3% of this neighborhood's residents have Armenian ancestry and 4.6% have Scots-Irish ancestry.

The Neighbors

There are two complementary measures for understanding the income of a neighborhood's residents: the average and the extremes. While a neighborhood may be relatively wealthy overall, it is equally important to understand the rate of people - particularly children - who are living at or below the federal poverty line, which is extremely low income. Some neighborhoods with a lower average income may actually have a lower childhood poverty rate than another with a higher average income, and this helps us understand the conditions and character of a neighborhood.

The neighbors in the neighborhood in Kiawah Island are wealthy, making it among the 15% highest income neighborhoods in America. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 98.8% of the neighborhoods in America. In addition, 0.0% of the children seventeen and under living in this neighborhood are living below the federal poverty line, which is a lower rate of childhood poverty than is found in 100.0% of America's neighborhoods.

What we choose to do for a living reflects who we are. Each neighborhood has a different mix of occupations represented, and together these tell you about the neighborhood and help you understand if this neighborhood may fit your lifestyle.

In the neighborhood, 77.5% of the working population is employed in executive, management, and professional occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants, with 12.2% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations (8.5%).

Languages

The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 97.9% of households. Some people also speak Polish (5.3%).

Ethnicity / Ancestry

Culture is the shared learned behavior of peoples. Undeniably, different ethnicities and ancestries have different cultural traditions, and as a result, neighborhoods with concentrations of residents of one or another ethnicities or ancestries will express those cultures. It is what makes the North End in Boston so fun to visit for the Italian restaurants, bakeries, culture, and charm, and similarly, why people enjoy visiting Chinatown in San Francisco.

In the neighborhood in Kiawah Island, SC, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as English (25.0%). There are also a number of people of Irish ancestry (22.9%), and residents who report German roots (18.6%), and some of the residents are also of Italian ancestry (10.3%), along with some French ancestry residents (6.1%), among others.

Getting to Work

Even if your neighborhood is walkable, you may still have to drive to your place of work. Some neighborhoods are located where many can get to work in just a few minutes, while others are located such that most residents have a long and arduous commute. The greatest number of commuters in neighborhood spend between 30 and 45 minutes commuting one-way to work (44.9% of working residents), which is at or a bit above the average length of a commute across all U.S. neighborhoods.

Here most residents (34.2%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also carpool with coworkers, friends, or neighbors to get to work (10.0%) . In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.


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Economics & Demographics include:
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Race & Ethnic Diversity
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Schools include:
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