Port Royal is a somewhat small coastal town (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of South Carolina. With a population of 15,632 people and two associated neighborhoods, Port Royal is the 34th largest community in South Carolina. Much of the housing stock in Port Royal was built relatively recently. The construction of new real estate can often be taken as an indication that the local Port Royal economy is robust, and that jobs or other amenities are attracting an influx of new residents. This seems to be the case in Port Royal, where the median household income is $68,909.00.

Port Royal real estate is some of the most expensive in South Carolina, although Port Royal house values don't compare to the most expensive real estate in the U.S.

Port Royal is a military town: the armed forces employs 12.31% of the workforce, making the military a major focus of life in the city. In the civilian sector, Retail and Healthcare are important in the local economy and are the town’s largest civilian employers, employing 24.30% and 20.37% of the civilian workforce respectively.

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

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

One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 10.60% of the workforce. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce this is high compared to the rest of the county. 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.

Port Royal, while not large, also appears to be attractive to some younger, educated professionals, who help shape the character of the town.

One of the nice things about Port Royal 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.

Residents of the town have the good fortune of having one of the shortest daily commutes compared to the rest of the country. On average, they spend only 17.70 minutes getting to work every day.

The education level of Port Royal citizens is very high relative to the national average among all cities (21.84%): 36.90% of adults in Port Royal have a bachelor's degree or even advanced degree.

The per capita income in Port Royal in 2022 was $31,381, which is upper middle income relative to South Carolina, and middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $125,524 for a family of four. However, Port Royal contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

Port Royal is an extremely ethnically-diverse town. The people who call Port Royal home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Port Royal residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Port Royal also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 16.61% of the town’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Port Royal include Irish, English, Italian, German, and French.

The most common language spoken in Port Royal is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and French.