Nags Head vs Southern Shores

A side-by-side comparison of Nags Head and Southern Shores: population, income, housing, and more.

Nags Head and Southern Shores are places in North Carolina. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Nags Head has the higher population (3,164 vs 3,119 in Southern Shores). Southern Shores has the higher median household income ($116,859 vs $87,619 in Nags Head). Southern Shores has the higher median home value ($621,100 vs $451,100 in Nags Head).

Population, income & housing

	Nags Head	Southern Shores
Population	3,164	3,119
Median age	59.1 yrs	57.4 yrs
Median household income	$87,619	$116,859
Median home value	$451,100	$621,100
Median gross rent	$1,005	$2,018
Housing units	5,214	2,461
Homeownership rate	77.6%	87.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	51.7%	56.7%
Unemployment rate	2.0%	13.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Nags Head	Southern Shores
Population	2,923 → 3,164 (+8.2%)	2,899 → 3,119 (+7.6%)
Median household income	$65,968 → $87,619 (+32.8%)	$96,553 → $116,859 (+21.0%)
Median home value	$327,900 → $451,100 (+37.6%)	$465,200 → $621,100 (+33.5%)
Median gross rent	$1,310 → $1,005 (-23.3%)	$1,914 → $2,018 (+5.4%)

Nags Head

Population

2,9233,164

Median household income

$65,968$87,619

Median home value

$327,900$451,100

Median gross rent

$1,310$1,005

Southern Shores

Population

2,8993,119

Median household income

$96,553$116,859

Median home value

$465,200$621,100

Median gross rent

$1,914$2,018

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Nags Head	Southern Shores
Under 5	1.6%	2.5%
5 to 17	10.4%	12.1%
18 to 24	7.6%	3.5%
25 to 34	5.7%	9.1%
35 to 44	5.8%	12.1%
45 to 54	9.6%	9.7%
55 to 64	16.8%	19.6%
65 to 74	30.0%	18.9%
75 and over	12.4%	12.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Nags Head	Southern Shores
White (non-Hispanic)	92.4%	95.2%
Black or African American	1.1%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.7%	0.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	1.8%	4.1%
Hispanic or Latino	4.0%	0.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Nags Head	Southern Shores
No high school diploma	3.9%	1.1%
High school graduate	17.5%	19.4%
Some college or associate's	26.9%	22.8%
Bachelor's degree	35.0%	32.7%
Graduate or professional degree	16.7%	23.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Nags Head	Southern Shores
Drove alone	80.4%	79.4%
Carpooled	3.4%	4.4%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.0%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	1.6%
Worked from home	15.1%	14.6%
Other means	1.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Nags Head	Southern Shores
1-unit, detached	80.0%	99.0%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	7.5%	0.4%
5 to 19 units	9.0%	0.0%
20 or more units	2.8%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	0.7%	0.6%

Poverty & households

	Nags Head	Southern Shores
Poverty rate	2.6%	0.8%
Average household size	1.90	2.47
Mean commute (minutes)	24	25
Median year structure built	1987	1989