Leland vs Oak Island

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

Leland 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.

Leland has the higher population (26,307 vs 8,888 in Oak Island). Leland has the higher median household income ($88,576 vs $83,483 in Oak Island). Oak Island has the higher median home value ($407,400 vs $358,800 in Leland).

Population, income & housing

	Leland	Oak Island
Population	26,307	8,888
Median age	48.0 yrs	61.5 yrs
Median household income	$88,576	$83,483
Median home value	$358,800	$407,400
Median gross rent	$1,603	$1,208
Housing units	11,995	10,431
Homeownership rate	81.5%	87.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	39.0%	43.0%
Unemployment rate	4.5%	3.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Leland	Oak Island
Population	20,294 → 26,307 (+29.6%)	7,851 → 8,888 (+13.2%)
Median household income	$68,924 → $88,576 (+28.5%)	$72,821 → $83,483 (+14.6%)
Median home value	$243,200 → $358,800 (+47.5%)	$255,900 → $407,400 (+59.2%)
Median gross rent	$1,173 → $1,603 (+36.7%)	$1,072 → $1,208 (+12.7%)

Leland

Population

20,29426,307

Median household income

$68,924$88,576

Median home value

$243,200$358,800

Median gross rent

$1,173$1,603

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)

	Leland	Oak Island
Under 5	5.0%	1.2%
5 to 17	11.5%	6.2%
18 to 24	5.3%	3.1%
25 to 34	13.5%	3.5%
35 to 44	11.6%	5.1%
45 to 54	8.9%	14.3%
55 to 64	16.7%	27.7%
65 to 74	19.4%	27.1%
75 and over	8.2%	11.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Leland	Oak Island
White (non-Hispanic)	80.9%	94.0%
Black or African American	9.4%	0.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.4%
Asian	0.8%	0.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.2%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.2%
Two or more races	3.7%	2.8%
Hispanic or Latino	5.2%	1.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Leland	Oak Island
No high school diploma	4.0%	3.1%
High school graduate	23.5%	21.7%
Some college or associate's	33.5%	32.2%
Bachelor's degree	25.6%	27.8%
Graduate or professional degree	13.4%	15.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Leland	Oak Island
Drove alone	77.3%	71.3%
Carpooled	7.5%	3.5%
Public transit	0.0%	2.0%
Walked	0.1%	1.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	13.9%	21.4%
Other means	1.2%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Leland	Oak Island
1-unit, detached	73.0%	85.2%
1-unit, attached	10.2%	1.9%
2 to 4 units	0.6%	1.8%
5 to 19 units	6.2%	1.5%
20 or more units	4.5%	2.8%
Mobile home & other	5.5%	6.8%

Poverty & households

	Leland	Oak Island
Poverty rate	5.8%	9.7%
Average household size	2.34	2.07
Mean commute (minutes)	24	23
Median year structure built	2008	1995