Southern Shores vs Wanchese

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

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

Southern Shores has the higher population (3,119 vs 1,793 in Wanchese). Southern Shores has the higher median household income ($116,859 vs $73,542 in Wanchese). Southern Shores has the higher median home value ($621,100 vs $257,100 in Wanchese).

Population, income & housing

	Southern Shores	Wanchese
Population	3,119	1,793
Median age	57.4 yrs	37.6 yrs
Median household income	$116,859	$73,542
Median home value	$621,100	$257,100
Median gross rent	$2,018	$1,031
Housing units	2,461	772
Homeownership rate	87.9%	73.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	56.7%	29.2%
Unemployment rate	13.9%	1.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Southern Shores	Wanchese
Population	2,899 → 3,119 (+7.6%)	1,732 → 1,793 (+3.5%)
Median household income	$96,553 → $116,859 (+21.0%)	$55,799 → $73,542 (+31.8%)
Median home value	$465,200 → $621,100 (+33.5%)	$218,500 → $257,100 (+17.7%)
Median gross rent	$1,914 → $2,018 (+5.4%)	$1,099 → $1,031 (-6.2%)

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

Wanchese

Population

1,7321,793

Median household income

$55,799$73,542

Median home value

$218,500$257,100

Median gross rent

$1,099$1,031

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Southern Shores	Wanchese
Under 5	2.5%	8.0%
5 to 17	12.1%	18.7%
18 to 24	3.5%	3.3%
25 to 34	9.1%	13.8%
35 to 44	12.1%	14.2%
45 to 54	9.7%	9.1%
55 to 64	19.6%	15.3%
65 to 74	18.9%	11.2%
75 and over	12.6%	6.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Southern Shores	Wanchese
White (non-Hispanic)	95.2%	97.8%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.4%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	4.1%	2.2%
Hispanic or Latino	0.3%	0.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Southern Shores	Wanchese
No high school diploma	1.1%	7.4%
High school graduate	19.4%	39.6%
Some college or associate's	22.8%	23.8%
Bachelor's degree	32.7%	24.1%
Graduate or professional degree	23.9%	5.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Southern Shores	Wanchese
Drove alone	79.4%	75.3%
Carpooled	4.4%	17.9%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.0%	0.5%
Bicycle	1.6%	0.0%
Worked from home	14.6%	4.2%
Other means	0.0%	2.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Southern Shores	Wanchese
1-unit, detached	99.0%	68.9%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	0.4%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	0.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	0.6%	31.1%

Poverty & households

	Southern Shores	Wanchese
Poverty rate	0.8%	5.0%
Average household size	2.47	2.55
Mean commute (minutes)	25	21
Median year structure built	1989	1985