Southport vs Sunset Beach

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

Southport 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.

Sunset Beach has the higher population (4,326 vs 4,143 in Southport). Sunset Beach has the higher median household income ($84,934 vs $82,792 in Southport). Southport has the higher median home value ($394,900 vs $354,300 in Sunset Beach).

Population, income & housing

	Southport	Sunset Beach
Population	4,143	4,326
Median age	63.0 yrs	68.3 yrs
Median household income	$82,792	$84,934
Median home value	$394,900	$354,300
Median gross rent	$1,468	$541
Housing units	2,440	5,220
Homeownership rate	78.5%	87.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	34.7%	39.7%
Unemployment rate	0.7%	2.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Southport	Sunset Beach
Population	3,739 → 4,143 (+10.8%)	3,901 → 4,326 (+10.9%)
Median household income	$52,917 → $82,792 (+56.5%)	$57,265 → $84,934 (+48.3%)
Median home value	$252,600 → $394,900 (+56.3%)	$267,900 → $354,300 (+32.3%)
Median gross rent	$980 → $1,468 (+49.8%)	$1,232 → $541 (-56.1%)

Southport

Population

3,7394,143

Median household income

$52,917$82,792

Median home value

$252,600$394,900

Median gross rent

$980$1,468

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)

	Southport	Sunset Beach
Under 5	3.8%	1.1%
5 to 17	8.1%	1.7%
18 to 24	3.5%	2.1%
25 to 34	5.9%	2.2%
35 to 44	7.4%	8.1%
45 to 54	7.8%	6.9%
55 to 64	20.5%	20.5%
65 to 74	30.8%	25.0%
75 and over	12.2%	32.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Southport	Sunset Beach
White (non-Hispanic)	87.2%	95.4%
Black or African American	7.1%	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	0.0%	0.6%
Two or more races	4.5%	1.1%
Hispanic or Latino	1.3%	0.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Southport	Sunset Beach
No high school diploma	5.1%	1.5%
High school graduate	20.1%	29.1%
Some college or associate's	40.1%	29.7%
Bachelor's degree	25.4%	26.8%
Graduate or professional degree	9.3%	12.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Southport	Sunset Beach
Drove alone	68.1%	77.5%
Carpooled	3.8%	1.5%
Public transit	2.0%	0.0%
Walked	2.6%	1.1%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	19.6%	19.7%
Other means	3.9%	0.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Southport	Sunset Beach
1-unit, detached	82.5%	55.0%
1-unit, attached	3.2%	4.0%
2 to 4 units	7.6%	6.4%
5 to 19 units	4.1%	19.0%
20 or more units	2.7%	5.3%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	10.2%

Poverty & households

	Southport	Sunset Beach
Poverty rate	5.3%	6.0%
Average household size	2.11	1.82
Mean commute (minutes)	22	19
Median year structure built	2002	1998