Census-designated place · Glynn County, Georgia

St. Simons, Georgia

St. Simons is a census-designated place in Glynn County, Georgia, part of the Brunswick-St. Simons, GA metro area. It has 16,228 residents. St. Simons, Georgia has a quality-of-life score of 61 out of 100 (high), ranking #6,180 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Georgia it ranks #35 of 386 cities and towns. It ranks best on job growth (high), restaurants and bars (high) and food insecurity (low). It ranks worst on distance to an emergency room (high), primary care shortage (high) and drought exposure (high).

61High

Quality-of-life score: #6,180 of 15,651 cities and towns
Georgia: #35 of 386 in GA
Population: 16,228 (2020-2024)
Land area: 16 mi²
Density: 986.1 /mi²
FIPS code: 1368040

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 75 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety22#12,119/15,637
Economy91#1,344/15,631
Housing28#10,723/14,977
Health69#4,766/15,609
Healthcare17#13,027/15,650
Environment49#7,809/15,453
Education76#3,770/15,649
Infrastructure98#353/15,650
Community25#11,666/15,651
Leisure & amenities94#912/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where St. Simons, Georgia ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Glynn County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Job growth · high3.7%
96/100Georgia 0.0%United States 0.1%2026 Q1U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsProvisional dataGlynn County value
Restaurants and bars · high15.2 /10k
95/100Georgia 8.5 /10kUnited States 9.0 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsGlynn County value
Food insecurity · low7.2%
95/100Georgia 18.1%United States 15.6%2023Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimate
Comfortable days · high35.0%
95/100Georgia 31.5%United States 26.8%2016-2025NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationGlynn County value
Lack of reliable transportation · low4.9%
95/100Georgia 9.8%United States 8.3%2023Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimate
Arts, entertainment and recreation · high9.0 /10k
94/100Georgia 4.9 /10kUnited States 5.5 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsGlynn County value

Weaknesses

Distance to an emergency room · high27.8 mi
1/100Georgia 7.4 miUnited States 5.5 miJul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesGlynn County value
Primary care shortage · high18.0
5/100Georgia 8.2United States 6.2Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationGlynn County value
Drought exposure · high87%
7/100Georgia 73%United States 43%Oct 2025–Sep 2026National Drought Mitigation Center (University of Nebraska–Lincoln), USDA and NOAAGlynn County value
Hospital quality rating · low2.0
9/100Georgia 3.0United States 3.2Jul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesGlynn County value
Income inequality (Gini index) · high0.483
11/100Georgia 0.477United States 0.4832020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B19083
Mental health care shortage · high18.0
11/100Georgia 9.6United States 9.9Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationGlynn County value

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

PopulationRising
14,778 (2015-2019) → 16,228 (2020-2024)
+9.8%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Median household incomeImproving
$87,248 (2015-2019) → $108,771 (2020-2024)
+25%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Home price to income ratioWorsening
4.3× (2015-2019) → 5.1× (2020-2024)
+20%5 yearsCensus table B25077US 3.5× → 4.1×
Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
45.4% (2015-2019) → 48.9% (2020-2024)
+3.5 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
92.4% (2015-2019) → 95.5% (2020-2024)
+3.1 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Uninsured residents (under 65)Improving
7.9% (2015-2019) → 5.8% (2020-2024)
−2.1 pts5 yearsCensus table B27010US 10.8% → 9.8%

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, St. Simons, Georgia improved on 1 of 12 measures with a comparison and declined on 1. 9 moved within the margin of error and 1 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved1

Household income+25%$87,248 → $108,771

Declined1

Price / income+0.8×4.3× → 5.1×

All 12 measures

Change of every measure of St. Simons, Georgia between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	18.5 min2015-2019	17.5 min2020-2024	−0.9 min	Within the margin of error	59%
Bachelor's degree or higher	56.8%2015-2019	57.0%2020-2024	+0.2 points	Within the margin of error	28%
Broadband subscriptions	92.4%2015-2019	95.5%2020-2024	+3.1 points	Within the margin of error	20%
Effective property tax rate	0.62%2015-2019	0.49%2020-2024	−0.1 points	Little change	42%
High school diploma or higher	96.8%2015-2019	96.0%2020-2024	−0.9 points	Within the margin of error	24%
Home price to income ratio	4.3×2015-2019	5.1×2020-2024	+0.8×	Declined	29%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4822015-2019	0.4832020-2024	+0.001	Within the margin of error	50%
Median household income	$87,2482015-2019	$108,7712020-2024	+25%	Improved	43%
Poverty rate	4.3%2015-2019	4.5%2020-2024	+0.2 points	Within the margin of error	42%
Rent as share of income	27.7%2015-2019	27.7%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	55%
Rent-burdened households	45.4%2015-2019	48.9%2020-2024	+3.5 points	Within the margin of error	43%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	7.9%2015-2019	5.8%2020-2024	−2.1 points	Within the margin of error	69%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like St. Simons, Georgia five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of St. Simons, Georgia in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, St. Simons, Georgia itself moved −2.1 points in standing on average over the same 10 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

16,228 residents (±875)

Men
Women

80 and over
70–79
60–69

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

7,829 households (±432)

St. Simons, Georgia
Georgia share

Under $25k8.5%665
$25k–50k12%923
$50k–75k14%1,088

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

7,829 households (±432)

St. Simons, Georgia
Georgia share

Own86%6,725
Rent14%1,104

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Own (+9.8 points).

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

7,015 workers (±691)

St. Simons, Georgia
Georgia share

Drive alone74%5,196
Carpool4.8%†338
Public transit0.1%†10

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Brunswick-St. Simons, GA

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Glynn County, the county holding most of St. Simons's residents.

Glynn County has 2,787 employer establishments, 323 for every 10,000 residents (1.30× the US rate of 248; 1.37× Georgia's), with 31,594 paid employees at an average annual pay of $46,974. The Census Bureau also counts 8,718 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 2,787; 8,718 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 323; US 248 · Georgia 236
Paid employees: 31,594
Average annual pay: $46,974; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Glynn County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Restaurants and other eating places	243	28.1	1.53×More than typical	4,616	$23,039	53
Ambulatory health care services	230	26.6	1.28×More than typical	1,965	$70,424	348
Lessors of real estate	175	20.3	1.64×More than typical	445	$45,575	1,028
Specialty trade contractors	152	17.6	1.14×About typical	788	$49,222	431
Construction of buildings	112	13	1.71×More than typical	453	$67,046	326
Full-service restaurants	110	12.7	1.66×More than typical	2,334	$25,274	12
Limited-service restaurants	104	12	1.50×More than typical	1,889	$21,320	25
Services to buildings and dwellings	104	12	1.79×More than typical	753	$37,100	807
Real estate agents and brokers	94	10.9	2.24×More than typical	185	$48,330	297
Legal services	82	9.5	1.77×More than typical	279	$109,695	102
Offices of physicians	81	9.4	1.45×More than typical	508	$96,945	81
Religious organizations	79	9.1	1.65×More than typical	617	$27,415	—

Rank places for an industry Open Glynn County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 86,378 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $43.7M of federal contract obligations were for work performed in St. Simons, Georgia: $2,694 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $43.7M; −39% vs FY2025
Per resident: $2,694; US $1,994
Sole-source: 0.3%; US 30%
Single offer: 0.0%; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

USTRANSCOM$43.2M99%
Federal Law Enforcement Training Center$221.7K0.5%
Internal Revenue Service$71.1K0.2%
Drug Enforcement Administration$64.9K0.1%
National Park Service$56.5K0.1%
Federal Aviation Administration$38K0.1%
U.S. Special Operations Command$17.4K0.0%
Federal Prison System / Bureau of Prisons$6,0960.0%

Top recipients

INTERNATIONAL AUTO LOGISTICS, LLC$43.2M99%
HALL BRIAN$196.6K0.4%
NORTHCLIFFE OCEAN SHIPPING & TRADING COMPANY INC.$94.7K0.2%
DRIGGERS COMMERCIAL GROUP, INC.$71.1K0.2%
GENE S. KENNEDY, M.D., P.C.$61.3K0.1%

Spending by fiscal year

1.7MFY2017
1.6MFY2018
13.8MFY2019
1MFY2020
38.4MFY2021
50.9MFY2022
55.2MFY2023
61.2M

Top industries (NAICS)

Other support activities for transportation · 4889$43.2M99%
Traveler accommodation · 7211$221.7K0.5%
Deep sea, coastal, and Great Lakes water transportation · 4831$94.7K0.2%
Offices of physicians · 6211$64.9K0.1%
Other professional, scientific, and technical services · 5419$32K0.1%
Nonresidential building construction · 2362$26.1K

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in St. Simons, Georgia, so they do not add up across cities.

St. Simons, Georgia's figures are part of those of Glynn County, GA ($468.5M in FY2026), never added to them: 9.3% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: St. Simons is mostly in Glynn County.

See federal money in Glynn County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

St. Simons, Georgia is represented in the 119th Congress by these members.

House

Earl L. "Buddy" CarterR-GA-1 · 100% of residentsWith party 99%Missed 5.5%

Senate

Explore Congress The 2026 races

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Glynn County45100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Brunswick-St. Simons, GA35

Other cities and towns in Glynn County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/1368040

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends