Beaufort County's jobless rate fell to 3.5% in September, a full point below a year ago. About 2,700 more residents had jobs and 785 fewer were looking, BLS says.
Beaufort County’s unemployment rate fell to 3.5% in September, down from 4.0% in August. A year earlier it was 4.5%.
The figures come from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The September numbers are preliminary.
Over the year, more residents were working and fewer were looking for work. About 2,739 more county residents had jobs than in September 2025. The number unemployed fell by 785.
The numbers
The bureau’s figures for Beaufort County, which includes Bluffton and Hilton Head Island:
| September 2026 | September 2025 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unemployment rate | 3.5% | 4.5% | down 1.0 point |
| People unemployed | 3,025 | 3,810 | down 785 |
| People employed | 84,454 | 81,715 | up 2,739 |
| Labor force | 87,479 | 85,525 | up 1,954 |
The labor force is everyone working or looking for work. It grew by 1,954 people over the year, and employment grew faster than that. That is why the rate fell.
August to September
The one-month drop is less clear-cut. From August to September the county had:
- 544 fewer people unemployed
- 427 fewer people employed
- 971 fewer people in the labor force
So part of the monthly fall came from people leaving the labor force, not finding jobs. County rates are not seasonally adjusted. They rise and fall with the tourist and school calendars, which is why September against September is the fairer test.
A lower year than last
The county’s rate peaked at 5.3% in February. It has stayed at or below 4.1% every month since March. September’s 3.5% is the lowest since May.
The bureau’s monthly rates for Beaufort County this year:
- January: 5.2%
- February: 5.3%
- March: 3.9%
- April: 3.3%
- May: 3.4%
- June: 4.1%
- July: 3.8%
- August: 4.0%
- September: 3.5% (preliminary)
The bureau published no figure for October 2025, a gap it attributes to the 2025 lapse in federal appropriations.
How Beaufort County compares
Beaufort County sits below both the state and the nation. Jasper County, home to Hardeeville about nine miles west, is slightly higher. Chatham County, Georgia, which includes Savannah, is lower. The September rates, all not seasonally adjusted:
- Chatham County, Georgia: 3.1%
- Beaufort County: 3.5%
- Jasper County: 3.7%
- South Carolina: 3.7%
- United States: 4.0%
The county figures are from the bureau’s Local Area Unemployment Statistics program, which also produces the South Carolina series. The national figure is from the bureau’s Current Population Survey.
Reading the figures
These are county figures and are counted by where people live, not where they work. The bureau does not publish a separate monthly rate for Bluffton. A Bluffton resident who works in Savannah counts as employed in Beaufort County.
September’s figures are preliminary. The bureau revises each month when it publishes the next.
What it means for you
- Looking for work? SC Works, the state’s public workforce system, lists jobs and runs training and hiring help at scworks.org.
- Out of work in South Carolina? Unemployment insurance claims go through the South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce.
- Housing costs: The typical Bluffton home value and rent are on our home prices page, updated each month.
- New businesses opening nearby are tracked on our new businesses page.
We will report the county’s October figures when the bureau publishes them.
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