Oak Island vs St. James

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

Oak Island and St. James 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 6,901 in St. James). St. James has the higher median household income ($113,670 vs $83,483 in Oak Island). St. James has the higher median home value ($599,300 vs $407,400 in Oak Island).

Population, income & housing

	Oak Island	St. James
Population	8,888	6,901
Median age	61.5 yrs	68.1 yrs
Median household income	$83,483	$113,670
Median home value	$407,400	$599,300
Median gross rent	$1,208	$2,258
Housing units	10,431	3,881
Homeownership rate	87.8%	95.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	43.0%	65.7%
Unemployment rate	3.6%	5.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Oak Island	St. James
Population	7,851 → 8,888 (+13.2%)	5,521 → 6,901 (+25.0%)
Median household income	$72,821 → $83,483 (+14.6%)	$104,850 → $113,670 (+8.4%)
Median home value	$255,900 → $407,400 (+59.2%)	$456,600 → $599,300 (+31.3%)
Median gross rent	$1,072 → $1,208 (+12.7%)	$1,862 → $2,258 (+21.3%)

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

St. James

Population

5,5216,901

Median household income

$104,850$113,670

Median home value

$456,600$599,300

Median gross rent

$1,862$2,258

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Oak Island	St. James
Under 5	1.2%	0.6%
5 to 17	6.2%	1.0%
18 to 24	3.1%	0.0%
25 to 34	3.5%	0.8%
35 to 44	5.1%	2.5%
45 to 54	14.3%	4.1%
55 to 64	27.7%	30.2%
65 to 74	27.1%	38.3%
75 and over	11.8%	22.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Oak Island	St. James
White (non-Hispanic)	94.0%	88.9%
Black or African American	0.7%	0.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.4%	0.0%
Asian	0.7%	0.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.8%	3.7%
Hispanic or Latino	1.3%	6.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Oak Island	St. James
No high school diploma	3.1%	2.0%
High school graduate	21.7%	11.8%
Some college or associate's	32.2%	20.5%
Bachelor's degree	27.8%	37.2%
Graduate or professional degree	15.2%	28.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Oak Island	St. James
Drove alone	71.3%	44.0%
Carpooled	3.5%	6.8%
Public transit	2.0%	13.1%
Walked	1.0%	3.2%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	21.4%	30.7%
Other means	0.9%	2.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Oak Island	St. James
1-unit, detached	85.2%	89.4%
1-unit, attached	1.9%	3.2%
2 to 4 units	1.8%	1.5%
5 to 19 units	1.5%	5.9%
20 or more units	2.8%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	6.8%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Oak Island	St. James
Poverty rate	9.7%	5.5%
Average household size	2.07	2.05
Mean commute (minutes)	23	53
Median year structure built	1995	2009