Calabash vs Ocean Isle Beach

A side-by-side comparison of Calabash and Ocean Isle Beach: population, income, housing, and more.

Calabash and Ocean Isle Beach are places in North Carolina. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Calabash has the higher population (2,397 vs 796 in Ocean Isle Beach). Ocean Isle Beach has the higher median household income ($99,231 vs $60,048 in Calabash). Ocean Isle Beach has the higher median home value ($754,300 vs $202,000 in Calabash).

Population, income & housing

	Calabash	Ocean Isle Beach
Population	2,397	796
Median age	54.0 yrs	67.9 yrs
Median household income	$60,048	$99,231
Median home value	$202,000	$754,300
Median gross rent	$1,348	—
Housing units	1,617	3,290
Homeownership rate	67.4%	98.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	22.2%	64.4%
Unemployment rate	7.2%	1.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Calabash	Ocean Isle Beach
Population	1,710 → 2,397 (+40.2%)	734 → 796 (+8.4%)
Median household income	$32,167 → $60,048 (+86.7%)	$93,750 → $99,231 (+5.8%)
Median home value	$139,300 → $202,000 (+45.0%)	$520,800 → $754,300 (+44.8%)
Median gross rent	$979 → $1,348 (+37.7%)	$1,000 → $989 (-1.1%)

Calabash

Population

1,7102,397

Median household income

$32,167$60,048

Median home value

$139,300$202,000

Median gross rent

$979$1,348

Ocean Isle Beach

Population

734796

Median household income

$93,750$99,231

Median home value

$520,800$754,300

Median gross rent

$1,000$989

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Calabash	Ocean Isle Beach
Under 5	3.5%	0.0%
5 to 17	9.4%	1.9%
18 to 24	13.4%	2.3%
25 to 34	5.2%	0.8%
35 to 44	6.3%	1.6%
45 to 54	17.5%	10.3%
55 to 64	18.3%	23.1%
65 to 74	17.7%	39.4%
75 and over	8.8%	20.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Calabash	Ocean Isle Beach
White (non-Hispanic)	73.2%	98.1%
Black or African American	5.8%	0.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	1.6%	0.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	11.8%	0.0%
Hispanic or Latino	7.6%	1.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Calabash	Ocean Isle Beach
No high school diploma	14.7%	1.3%
High school graduate	32.4%	10.0%
Some college or associate's	30.8%	24.4%
Bachelor's degree	11.7%	40.0%
Graduate or professional degree	10.5%	24.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Calabash	Ocean Isle Beach
Drove alone	70.7%	58.5%
Carpooled	10.2%	3.8%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.0%	2.1%
Bicycle	0.5%	0.0%
Worked from home	18.6%	35.6%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Calabash	Ocean Isle Beach
1-unit, detached	51.3%	69.5%
1-unit, attached	0.2%	1.7%
2 to 4 units	0.5%	12.9%
5 to 19 units	15.6%	10.9%
20 or more units	5.1%	3.5%
Mobile home & other	27.2%	1.6%

Poverty & households

	Calabash	Ocean Isle Beach
Poverty rate	20.7%	5.9%
Average household size	2.13	1.80
Mean commute (minutes)	18	22
Median year structure built	1993	1994