Carolina Shores vs Sunset Beach

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

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

Carolina Shores has the higher population (4,843 vs 4,326 in Sunset Beach). Sunset Beach has the higher median household income ($84,934 vs $74,310 in Carolina Shores). Sunset Beach has the higher median home value ($354,300 vs $276,000 in Carolina Shores).

Population, income & housing

	Carolina Shores	Sunset Beach
Population	4,843	4,326
Median age	65.6 yrs	68.3 yrs
Median household income	$74,310	$84,934
Median home value	$276,000	$354,300
Median gross rent	$1,948	$541
Housing units	2,848	5,220
Homeownership rate	94.4%	87.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	27.7%	39.7%
Unemployment rate	6.0%	2.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Carolina Shores	Sunset Beach
Population	4,163 → 4,843 (+16.3%)	3,901 → 4,326 (+10.9%)
Median household income	$63,048 → $74,310 (+17.9%)	$57,265 → $84,934 (+48.3%)
Median home value	$193,100 → $276,000 (+42.9%)	$267,900 → $354,300 (+32.3%)
Median gross rent	$1,513 → $1,948 (+28.8%)	$1,232 → $541 (-56.1%)

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

Sunset Beach

Population

3,9014,326

Median household income

$57,265$84,934

Median home value

$267,900$354,300

Median gross rent

$1,232$541

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Carolina Shores	Sunset Beach
Under 5	1.1%	1.1%
5 to 17	5.1%	1.7%
18 to 24	3.3%	2.1%
25 to 34	5.5%	2.2%
35 to 44	3.4%	8.1%
45 to 54	9.9%	6.9%
55 to 64	20.3%	20.5%
65 to 74	30.2%	25.0%
75 and over	21.3%	32.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Carolina Shores	Sunset Beach
White (non-Hispanic)	92.7%	95.4%
Black or African American	0.0%	1.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	3.5%	0.6%
Two or more races	3.5%	1.1%
Hispanic or Latino	0.3%	0.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Carolina Shores	Sunset Beach
No high school diploma	1.3%	1.5%
High school graduate	34.2%	29.1%
Some college or associate's	36.8%	29.7%
Bachelor's degree	15.4%	26.8%
Graduate or professional degree	12.4%	12.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Carolina Shores	Sunset Beach
Drove alone	77.1%	77.5%
Carpooled	8.7%	1.5%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.0%	1.1%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	14.3%	19.7%
Other means	0.0%	0.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Carolina Shores	Sunset Beach
1-unit, detached	81.0%	55.0%
1-unit, attached	13.2%	4.0%
2 to 4 units	0.0%	6.4%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	19.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	5.3%
Mobile home & other	5.7%	10.2%

Poverty & households

	Carolina Shores	Sunset Beach
Poverty rate	3.0%	6.0%
Average household size	1.93	1.82
Mean commute (minutes)	20	19
Median year structure built	2005	1998