Atlantic Beach vs Harkers Island

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

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

Atlantic Beach has the higher population (1,705 vs 1,080 in Harkers Island). Harkers Island has the higher median household income ($58,750 vs $58,056 in Atlantic Beach). Atlantic Beach has the higher median home value ($466,400 vs $295,500 in Harkers Island).

Population, income & housing

	Atlantic Beach	Harkers Island
Population	1,705	1,080
Median age	60.5 yrs	59.5 yrs
Median household income	$58,056	$58,750
Median home value	$466,400	$295,500
Median gross rent	$995	$968
Housing units	5,166	1,155
Homeownership rate	64.7%	84.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	51.7%	23.2%
Unemployment rate	3.2%	0.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Atlantic Beach	Harkers Island
Population	1,747 → 1,705 (-2.4%)	1,260 → 1,080 (-14.3%)
Median household income	$48,289 → $58,056 (+20.2%)	$54,444 → $58,750 (+7.9%)
Median home value	$383,600 → $466,400 (+21.6%)	$234,000 → $295,500 (+26.3%)
Median gross rent	$958 → $995 (+3.9%)	$1,066 → $968 (-9.2%)

Atlantic Beach

Population

1,7471,705

Median household income

$48,289$58,056

Median home value

$383,600$466,400

Median gross rent

$958$995

Harkers Island

Population

1,2601,080

Median household income

$54,444$58,750

Median home value

$234,000$295,500

Median gross rent

$1,066$968

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Atlantic Beach	Harkers Island
Under 5	2.2%	4.9%
5 to 17	8.4%	7.8%
18 to 24	2.9%	4.4%
25 to 34	6.9%	7.6%
35 to 44	5.3%	7.8%
45 to 54	13.7%	10.8%
55 to 64	20.1%	24.4%
65 to 74	22.4%	20.0%
75 and over	18.1%	12.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Atlantic Beach	Harkers Island
White (non-Hispanic)	91.8%	95.3%
Black or African American	0.8%	3.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.0%
Asian	0.4%	0.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	6.9%	0.3%
Hispanic or Latino	0.0%	0.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Atlantic Beach	Harkers Island
No high school diploma	0.7%	16.2%
High school graduate	21.6%	25.9%
Some college or associate's	26.0%	34.7%
Bachelor's degree	41.6%	12.1%
Graduate or professional degree	10.1%	11.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Atlantic Beach	Harkers Island
Drove alone	80.3%	83.0%
Carpooled	1.7%	0.0%
Public transit	0.0%	11.1%
Walked	1.7%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	16.2%	5.4%
Other means	0.0%	0.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Atlantic Beach	Harkers Island
1-unit, detached	34.4%	61.0%
1-unit, attached	3.6%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	11.1%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	14.5%	0.0%
20 or more units	18.5%	0.7%
Mobile home & other	18.0%	38.3%

Poverty & households

	Atlantic Beach	Harkers Island
Poverty rate	18.5%	11.9%
Average household size	1.74	2.39
Mean commute (minutes)	24	31
Median year structure built	1982	1983