Beaufort vs Emerald Isle

A side-by-side comparison of Beaufort and Emerald Isle: population, income, housing, and more.

Beaufort and Emerald Isle are places in North Carolina. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Beaufort has the higher population (4,613 vs 3,915 in Emerald Isle). Emerald Isle has the higher median household income ($89,432 vs $48,111 in Beaufort). Emerald Isle has the higher median home value ($563,600 vs $319,700 in Beaufort).

Population, income & housing

	Beaufort	Emerald Isle
Population	4,613	3,915
Median age	50.5 yrs	58.7 yrs
Median household income	$48,111	$89,432
Median home value	$319,700	$563,600
Median gross rent	$862	$1,688
Housing units	3,112	6,802
Homeownership rate	48.0%	83.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	36.0%	52.0%
Unemployment rate	6.8%	1.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Beaufort	Emerald Isle
Population	4,343 → 4,613 (+6.2%)	3,703 → 3,915 (+5.7%)
Median household income	$40,926 → $48,111 (+17.6%)	$78,194 → $89,432 (+14.4%)
Median home value	$229,900 → $319,700 (+39.1%)	$378,500 → $563,600 (+48.9%)
Median gross rent	$715 → $862 (+20.6%)	$1,408 → $1,688 (+19.9%)

Beaufort

Population

4,3434,613

Median household income

$40,926$48,111

Median home value

$229,900$319,700

Median gross rent

$715$862

Emerald Isle

Population

3,7033,915

Median household income

$78,194$89,432

Median home value

$378,500$563,600

Median gross rent

$1,408$1,688

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Beaufort	Emerald Isle
Under 5	2.0%	2.7%
5 to 17	14.5%	12.1%
18 to 24	8.3%	3.8%
25 to 34	8.0%	4.7%
35 to 44	12.1%	6.9%
45 to 54	10.2%	12.8%
55 to 64	14.5%	24.1%
65 to 74	18.4%	23.3%
75 and over	12.0%	9.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Beaufort	Emerald Isle
White (non-Hispanic)	80.3%	93.2%
Black or African American	11.5%	0.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.1%
Asian	0.0%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	2.2%	0.0%
Two or more races	3.9%	6.2%
Hispanic or Latino	1.9%	0.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Beaufort	Emerald Isle
No high school diploma	11.4%	1.6%
High school graduate	18.1%	15.6%
Some college or associate's	34.6%	30.8%
Bachelor's degree	23.9%	29.0%
Graduate or professional degree	12.0%	22.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Beaufort	Emerald Isle
Drove alone	75.9%	70.8%
Carpooled	2.5%	2.9%
Public transit	0.5%	0.0%
Walked	0.9%	2.3%
Bicycle	2.3%	0.0%
Worked from home	17.8%	22.8%
Other means	0.0%	1.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Beaufort	Emerald Isle
1-unit, detached	60.5%	60.1%
1-unit, attached	5.7%	13.1%
2 to 4 units	15.3%	3.3%
5 to 19 units	12.4%	4.1%
20 or more units	5.0%	6.2%
Mobile home & other	1.2%	13.1%

Poverty & households

	Beaufort	Emerald Isle
Poverty rate	14.2%	3.9%
Average household size	1.83	2.15
Mean commute (minutes)	19	27
Median year structure built	1983	1989