Beaufort vs Morehead City

A side-by-side comparison of Beaufort and Morehead City: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Morehead City has the higher population (9,696 vs 4,613 in Beaufort). Morehead City has the higher median household income ($53,718 vs $48,111 in Beaufort). Morehead City has the higher median home value ($330,900 vs $319,700 in Beaufort).

Population, income & housing

	Beaufort	Morehead City
Population	4,613	9,696
Median age	50.5 yrs	44.1 yrs
Median household income	$48,111	$53,718
Median home value	$319,700	$330,900
Median gross rent	$862	$1,122
Housing units	3,112	6,254
Homeownership rate	48.0%	47.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	36.0%	34.6%
Unemployment rate	6.8%	3.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Beaufort	Morehead City
Population	4,343 → 4,613 (+6.2%)	9,413 → 9,696 (+3.0%)
Median household income	$40,926 → $48,111 (+17.6%)	$42,985 → $53,718 (+25.0%)
Median home value	$229,900 → $319,700 (+39.1%)	$225,200 → $330,900 (+46.9%)
Median gross rent	$715 → $862 (+20.6%)	$863 → $1,122 (+30.0%)

Beaufort

Population

4,3434,613

Median household income

$40,926$48,111

Median home value

$229,900$319,700

Median gross rent

$715$862

Morehead City

Population

9,4139,696

Median household income

$42,985$53,718

Median home value

$225,200$330,900

Median gross rent

$863$1,122

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Beaufort	Morehead City
Under 5	2.0%	5.0%
5 to 17	14.5%	13.1%
18 to 24	8.3%	9.3%
25 to 34	8.0%	14.4%
35 to 44	12.1%	10.5%
45 to 54	10.2%	12.0%
55 to 64	14.5%	13.7%
65 to 74	18.4%	10.4%
75 and over	12.0%	11.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Beaufort	Morehead City
White (non-Hispanic)	80.3%	77.6%
Black or African American	11.5%	5.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	1.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	2.2%	0.5%
Two or more races	3.9%	5.4%
Hispanic or Latino	1.9%	9.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Beaufort	Morehead City
No high school diploma	11.4%	9.7%
High school graduate	18.1%	21.3%
Some college or associate's	34.6%	34.4%
Bachelor's degree	23.9%	23.1%
Graduate or professional degree	12.0%	11.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Beaufort	Morehead City
Drove alone	75.9%	82.9%
Carpooled	2.5%	5.0%
Public transit	0.5%	0.0%
Walked	0.9%	1.3%
Bicycle	2.3%	0.6%
Worked from home	17.8%	9.4%
Other means	0.0%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Beaufort	Morehead City
1-unit, detached	60.5%	50.2%
1-unit, attached	5.7%	8.5%
2 to 4 units	15.3%	11.8%
5 to 19 units	12.4%	12.2%
20 or more units	5.0%	12.7%
Mobile home & other	1.2%	4.6%

Poverty & households

	Beaufort	Morehead City
Poverty rate	14.2%	17.4%
Average household size	1.83	1.89
Mean commute (minutes)	19	18
Median year structure built	1983	1984