Another notable thing is that Pawleys 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.

In addition, Pawleys Island is home to many people who could be described as "urban sophisticates". Urban sophisticates are people who are both educated and wealthy, and thus tend to be older, richer, and more established than young professionals. "Urban sophisticates" is not just about being educated and well-off financially: it is a point of view and state of mind, one that you might call 'urbaneness'. But such people can and do regularly live in small towns, suburbs and rural areas, as well as in big cities. They read, support the arts and high-end shops, and love travel.

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!) Pawleys 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. Pawleys Island has few renters and college students. But the biggest reason it is quieter in Pawleys Island than in most places in America, is that there are just simply fewer people living here. If you think trees make good neighbors, Pawleys Island may be for you.

Pawleys Island is also nautical, which means that parts of it are somewhat historic and touch the ocean or tidal bodies of water, such as inlets and bays. Such areas are often places that visitors and locals go for waterfront activities or taking in the scenery.

Pawleys Island is a very car-oriented town. 100.00% of residents commute to work in a private automobile rather than by other means, such as public transit, bicycling, or walking. This is because Pawleys Island is a small town , and most people who live here have to drive out of town for work, and the town population is not large nor dense enough to support an extensive public transportation system. Pawleys Island has a lot of rural roads, and houses can be far apart. Many residents drive out of town for regular shopping trips as well.

Being a small town, Pawleys Island does not have a public transit system used by locals to get to and from work.

Do you like to read, write and learn? If you move to Pawleys Island, you'll likely find that many of your neighbors like to as well. Pawleys Island is one of the more educated communities in America, with a full 81.71% of its adults having a college degree or even advanced degree, compared to a national average across all communities of 21.84%.

The per capita income in Pawleys Island in 2018 was $141,604, which is wealthy relative to South Carolina and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $566,416 for a family of four.

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

The most common language spoken in Pawleys Island is English. Other important languages spoken here include African languages and Arabic.