Oak Island vs Sunset Beach

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

Oak Island 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.

Oak Island has the higher population (8,888 vs 4,326 in Sunset Beach). Sunset Beach has the higher median household income ($84,934 vs $83,483 in Oak Island). Oak Island has the higher median home value ($407,400 vs $354,300 in Sunset Beach).

Population, income & housing

	Oak Island	Sunset Beach
Population	8,888	4,326
Median age	61.5 yrs	68.3 yrs
Median household income	$83,483	$84,934
Median home value	$407,400	$354,300
Median gross rent	$1,208	$541
Housing units	10,431	5,220
Homeownership rate	87.8%	87.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	43.0%	39.7%
Unemployment rate	3.6%	2.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Oak Island	Sunset Beach
Population	7,851 → 8,888 (+13.2%)	3,901 → 4,326 (+10.9%)
Median household income	$72,821 → $83,483 (+14.6%)	$57,265 → $84,934 (+48.3%)
Median home value	$255,900 → $407,400 (+59.2%)	$267,900 → $354,300 (+32.3%)
Median gross rent	$1,072 → $1,208 (+12.7%)	$1,232 → $541 (-56.1%)

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

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)

	Oak Island	Sunset Beach
Under 5	1.2%	1.1%
5 to 17	6.2%	1.7%
18 to 24	3.1%	2.1%
25 to 34	3.5%	2.2%
35 to 44	5.1%	8.1%
45 to 54	14.3%	6.9%
55 to 64	27.7%	20.5%
65 to 74	27.1%	25.0%
75 and over	11.8%	32.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Oak Island	Sunset Beach
White (non-Hispanic)	94.0%	95.4%
Black or African American	0.7%	1.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.4%	0.0%
Asian	0.7%	0.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.6%
Two or more races	2.8%	1.1%
Hispanic or Latino	1.3%	0.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Oak Island	Sunset Beach
No high school diploma	3.1%	1.5%
High school graduate	21.7%	29.1%
Some college or associate's	32.2%	29.7%
Bachelor's degree	27.8%	26.8%
Graduate or professional degree	15.2%	12.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Oak Island	Sunset Beach
Drove alone	71.3%	77.5%
Carpooled	3.5%	1.5%
Public transit	2.0%	0.0%
Walked	1.0%	1.1%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	21.4%	19.7%
Other means	0.9%	0.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Oak Island	Sunset Beach
1-unit, detached	85.2%	55.0%
1-unit, attached	1.9%	4.0%
2 to 4 units	1.8%	6.4%
5 to 19 units	1.5%	19.0%
20 or more units	2.8%	5.3%
Mobile home & other	6.8%	10.2%

Poverty & households

	Oak Island	Sunset Beach
Poverty rate	9.7%	6.0%
Average household size	2.07	1.82
Mean commute (minutes)	23	19
Median year structure built	1995	1998