Carolina Shores vs Oak Island

A side-by-side comparison of Carolina Shores and Oak Island: population, income, housing, and more.

Carolina Shores and Oak Island are places in North Carolina. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Oak Island has the higher population (8,888 vs 4,843 in Carolina Shores). Oak Island has the higher median household income ($83,483 vs $74,310 in Carolina Shores). Oak Island has the higher median home value ($407,400 vs $276,000 in Carolina Shores).

Population, income & housing

	Carolina Shores	Oak Island
Population	4,843	8,888
Median age	65.6 yrs	61.5 yrs
Median household income	$74,310	$83,483
Median home value	$276,000	$407,400
Median gross rent	$1,948	$1,208
Housing units	2,848	10,431
Homeownership rate	94.4%	87.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	27.7%	43.0%
Unemployment rate	6.0%	3.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Carolina Shores	Oak Island
Population	4,163 → 4,843 (+16.3%)	7,851 → 8,888 (+13.2%)
Median household income	$63,048 → $74,310 (+17.9%)	$72,821 → $83,483 (+14.6%)
Median home value	$193,100 → $276,000 (+42.9%)	$255,900 → $407,400 (+59.2%)
Median gross rent	$1,513 → $1,948 (+28.8%)	$1,072 → $1,208 (+12.7%)

Carolina Shores

Population

4,1634,843

Median household income

$63,048$74,310

Median home value

$193,100$276,000

Median gross rent

$1,513$1,948

Oak Island

Population

7,8518,888

Median household income

$72,821$83,483

Median home value

$255,900$407,400

Median gross rent

$1,072$1,208

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Carolina Shores	Oak Island
Under 5	1.1%	1.2%
5 to 17	5.1%	6.2%
18 to 24	3.3%	3.1%
25 to 34	5.5%	3.5%
35 to 44	3.4%	5.1%
45 to 54	9.9%	14.3%
55 to 64	20.3%	27.7%
65 to 74	30.2%	27.1%
75 and over	21.3%	11.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Carolina Shores	Oak Island
White (non-Hispanic)	92.7%	94.0%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.4%
Asian	0.0%	0.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	3.5%	0.2%
Two or more races	3.5%	2.8%
Hispanic or Latino	0.3%	1.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Carolina Shores	Oak Island
No high school diploma	1.3%	3.1%
High school graduate	34.2%	21.7%
Some college or associate's	36.8%	32.2%
Bachelor's degree	15.4%	27.8%
Graduate or professional degree	12.4%	15.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Carolina Shores	Oak Island
Drove alone	77.1%	71.3%
Carpooled	8.7%	3.5%
Public transit	0.0%	2.0%
Walked	0.0%	1.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	14.3%	21.4%
Other means	0.0%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Carolina Shores	Oak Island
1-unit, detached	81.0%	85.2%
1-unit, attached	13.2%	1.9%
2 to 4 units	0.0%	1.8%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	1.5%
20 or more units	0.0%	2.8%
Mobile home & other	5.7%	6.8%

Poverty & households

	Carolina Shores	Oak Island
Poverty rate	3.0%	9.7%
Average household size	1.93	2.07
Mean commute (minutes)	20	23
Median year structure built	2005	1995