Tybee Island

Perched at the eastern tip of Chatham County where the Savannah River meets the Atlantic Ocean, Tybee Island is the kind of place people visit once and spend the next decade figuring out how to move to permanently. This small barrier island — just three miles long and less than a mile wide — punches well above its weight when it comes to charm, community, and coastal living. But before you start packing your beach chairs, it’s worth getting an honest look at what life on Tybee actually involves day to day.

A City That Fits Multiple Lifestyles

With a population of just 3,121, Tybee Island is genuinely small — the kind of place where you recognize faces at Chu’s Convenience Store and know your mail carrier by name. That intimacy attracts retirees, remote workers, and longtime locals in roughly equal measure. The north end of the island, around Alley 3 and the Back River, tends to draw quieter residents who love kayaking and birdwatching in the Tybee Creek marshes. The south end near the pier and Tybrisa Street has more foot traffic and a livelier vacation energy. Families with young children do exist here, though with a median age of 63.8, the community skews decidedly toward those enjoying their post-career years in the salt air.

Cost of Living and Housing

Let’s be direct: Tybee Island is not an affordable market. The median home price sits at $613,400, reflecting both the island’s desirability and the fundamental reality that land simply cannot expand on a barrier island. Cottages and bungalows in the mid-island neighborhoods around Butler Avenue and the side streets off Campbell Avenue represent some of the more accessible entry points, though “accessible” is relative. Rental prices are similarly elevated, driven partly by the short-term vacation rental market that dominates much of the island’s housing stock. The median household income of $112,778 suggests that those who do plant roots here are generally financially comfortable — often combining retirement savings, investment income, or remote work salaries to make the numbers work.

Employment and Economy

If you’re planning to work locally, adjust your expectations accordingly. The island’s economy runs primarily on tourism, hospitality, and the service industry. The DeSoto Beach Hotel, local restaurants along Butler Avenue, and seasonal businesses provide jobs, but these are rarely high-paying positions. The real economic engine for working residents is Savannah, just 18 miles west via US-80. Hunter Army Airfield, Gulfstream Aerospace, the Port of Savannah, and Memorial Health University Medical Center all employ significant numbers of people who commute from Tybee. The drive typically runs 30 to 45 minutes outside of summer beach traffic, which can be genuinely brutal on summer weekends. Remote work has been transformational for this community — increasingly, people choose Tybee precisely because they can earn mainland salaries while living island life.

Lifestyle and Recreation

This is where Tybee earns its reputation without apology. The beach itself is wide, beautiful, and dotted with public access points from the North Beach area near the Tybee Island Lighthouse — one of the oldest and tallest lighthouses in the Southeast — all the way south to Savannah Beach. Kayaking through the surrounding marshes, fishing off the pier, cycling the flat island roads, and watching loggerhead sea turtles nest in summer are genuinely everyday pleasures here. The Back River beach offers a calmer alternative to the main strand. Tybee’s food and bar scene is small but spirited, with spots like The Crab Shack and North Beach Bar & Grill providing authentic local gathering places rather than tourist traps.

The Bottom Line

Tybee Island rewards people who come in clear-eyed. It’s expensive, small, and occasionally overwhelmed by summer visitors. But for those who can afford the entry price — financially and temperamentally — it offers something increasingly rare: a genuine community with a distinct identity, extraordinary natural beauty, and a pace of life that reminds you what you were actually working toward all those years.