Lake Waccamaw vs Riegelwood

A side-by-side comparison of Lake Waccamaw and Riegelwood: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Lake Waccamaw has the higher population (1,666 vs 539 in Riegelwood). Lake Waccamaw has the higher median home value ($294,800 vs $181,800 in Riegelwood). Since 2019, Lake Waccamaw's population has grown faster (-3.9% vs -35.8%).

Population, income & housing

	Lake Waccamaw	Riegelwood
Population	1,666	539
Median age	50.8 yrs	59.2 yrs
Median household income	$79,844	—
Median home value	$294,800	$181,800
Median gross rent	$1,069	$995
Housing units	951	295
Homeownership rate	84.6%	72.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	36.8%	3.3%
Unemployment rate	2.6%	0.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Lake Waccamaw	Riegelwood
Population	1,733 → 1,666 (-3.9%)	840 → 539 (-35.8%)
Median household income	$52,692 → $79,844 (+51.5%)	$35,451 → $42,452 (+19.7%)
Median home value	$263,500 → $294,800 (+11.9%)	$210,500 → $181,800 (-13.6%)
Median gross rent	$904 → $1,069 (+18.3%)	$845 → $995 (+17.8%)

Lake Waccamaw

Population

1,7331,666

Median household income

$52,692$79,844

Median home value

$263,500$294,800

Median gross rent

$904$1,069

Riegelwood

Population

840539

Median household income

$35,451$42,452

Median home value

$210,500$181,800

Median gross rent

$845$995

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Lake Waccamaw	Riegelwood
Under 5	1.7%	9.1%
5 to 17	20.9%	2.6%
18 to 24	6.7%	9.6%
25 to 34	5.7%	12.8%
35 to 44	8.8%	2.2%
45 to 54	12.4%	13.2%
55 to 64	12.2%	29.5%
65 to 74	13.7%	18.2%
75 and over	17.8%	2.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Lake Waccamaw	Riegelwood
White (non-Hispanic)	75.2%	70.5%
Black or African American	9.2%	18.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	3.3%	0.9%
Asian	0.0%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	1.9%	0.0%
Two or more races	9.3%	5.9%
Hispanic or Latino	1.1%	3.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Lake Waccamaw	Riegelwood
No high school diploma	9.0%	0.0%
High school graduate	25.8%	55.9%
Some college or associate's	28.4%	40.8%
Bachelor's degree	21.8%	3.3%
Graduate or professional degree	15.1%	0.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Lake Waccamaw	Riegelwood
Drove alone	81.0%	83.7%
Carpooled	4.5%	11.2%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	1.2%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	12.8%	5.1%
Other means	0.5%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Lake Waccamaw	Riegelwood
1-unit, detached	89.3%	88.8%
1-unit, attached	1.4%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	3.5%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	0.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	5.9%	11.2%

Poverty & households

	Lake Waccamaw	Riegelwood
Poverty rate	6.8%	9.8%
Average household size	2.39	1.98
Mean commute (minutes)	29	23
Median year structure built	1980	1958