Cape Carteret vs Emerald Isle

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

Cape Carteret 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.

Emerald Isle has the higher population (3,915 vs 2,598 in Cape Carteret). Emerald Isle has the higher median household income ($89,432 vs $75,313 in Cape Carteret). Emerald Isle has the higher median home value ($563,600 vs $347,500 in Cape Carteret).

Population, income & housing

	Cape Carteret	Emerald Isle
Population	2,598	3,915
Median age	47.6 yrs	58.7 yrs
Median household income	$75,313	$89,432
Median home value	$347,500	$563,600
Median gross rent	$1,755	$1,688
Housing units	1,284	6,802
Homeownership rate	80.6%	83.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	31.9%	52.0%
Unemployment rate	2.3%	1.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Cape Carteret	Emerald Isle
Population	2,403 → 2,598 (+8.1%)	3,703 → 3,915 (+5.7%)
Median household income	$81,923 → $75,313 (-8.1%)	$78,194 → $89,432 (+14.4%)
Median home value	$261,600 → $347,500 (+32.8%)	$378,500 → $563,600 (+48.9%)
Median gross rent	$1,601 → $1,755 (+9.6%)	$1,408 → $1,688 (+19.9%)

Cape Carteret

Population

2,4032,598

Median household income

$81,923$75,313

Median home value

$261,600$347,500

Median gross rent

$1,601$1,755

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)

	Cape Carteret	Emerald Isle
Under 5	3.5%	2.7%
5 to 17	15.7%	12.1%
18 to 24	3.4%	3.8%
25 to 34	7.2%	4.7%
35 to 44	16.4%	6.9%
45 to 54	13.0%	12.8%
55 to 64	12.2%	24.1%
65 to 74	19.7%	23.3%
75 and over	8.9%	9.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Cape Carteret	Emerald Isle
White (non-Hispanic)	93.5%	93.2%
Black or African American	0.3%	0.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	0.0%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.9%	6.2%
Hispanic or Latino	3.2%	0.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Cape Carteret	Emerald Isle
No high school diploma	7.9%	1.6%
High school graduate	17.9%	15.6%
Some college or associate's	42.4%	30.8%
Bachelor's degree	19.7%	29.0%
Graduate or professional degree	12.1%	22.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Cape Carteret	Emerald Isle
Drove alone	86.7%	70.8%
Carpooled	5.5%	2.9%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	1.3%	2.3%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	6.5%	22.8%
Other means	0.0%	1.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Cape Carteret	Emerald Isle
1-unit, detached	95.0%	60.1%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	13.1%
2 to 4 units	1.0%	3.3%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	4.1%
20 or more units	0.0%	6.2%
Mobile home & other	4.0%	13.1%

Poverty & households

	Cape Carteret	Emerald Isle
Poverty rate	7.3%	3.9%
Average household size	2.33	2.15
Mean commute (minutes)	27	27
Median year structure built	1994	1989