Fairfield vs Ocracoke

A side-by-side comparison of Fairfield and Ocracoke: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Ocracoke has the higher population (709 vs 276 in Fairfield). Ocracoke has the higher median home value ($472,200 vs $154,500 in Fairfield). Since 2019, Fairfield's population has grown faster (+4.2% vs +0.4%).

Population, income & housing

	Fairfield	Ocracoke
Population	276	709
Median age	18.9 yrs	46.8 yrs
Median household income	$39,659	—
Median home value	$154,500	$472,200
Median gross rent	—	$1,412
Housing units	121	720
Homeownership rate	89.7%	67.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	11.7%	46.3%
Unemployment rate	0.0%	0.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Fairfield	Ocracoke
Population	265 → 276 (+4.2%)	706 → 709 (+0.4%)
Median household income	$33,250 → $39,659 (+19.3%)	$61,591 → $65,672 (+6.6%)
Median home value	$97,300 → $154,500 (+58.8%)	$444,300 → $472,200 (+6.3%)
Median gross rent	—	$725 → $1,412 (+94.8%)

Fairfield

Population

265276

Median household income

$33,250$39,659

Median home value

$97,300$154,500

Ocracoke

Population

706709

Median household income

$61,591$65,672

Median home value

$444,300$472,200

Median gross rent

$725$1,412

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Fairfield	Ocracoke
Under 5	1.4%	10.9%
5 to 17	44.6%	17.9%
18 to 24	4.3%	1.8%
25 to 34	1.8%	3.2%
35 to 44	11.2%	13.7%
45 to 54	5.8%	16.1%
55 to 64	14.9%	17.6%
65 to 74	15.9%	13.3%
75 and over	0.0%	5.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Fairfield	Ocracoke
White (non-Hispanic)	47.5%	83.8%
Black or African American	43.5%	0.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	0.0%	0.0%
Hispanic or Latino	9.1%	15.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Fairfield	Ocracoke
No high school diploma	26.3%	7.9%
High school graduate	41.6%	26.8%
Some college or associate's	20.4%	18.9%
Bachelor's degree	0.0%	33.1%
Graduate or professional degree	11.7%	13.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Fairfield	Ocracoke
Drove alone	0.0%	85.2%
Carpooled	100.0%	14.8%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.0%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	0.0%	0.0%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Fairfield	Ocracoke
1-unit, detached	86.0%	86.4%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	0.0%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	6.5%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	14.0%	7.1%

Poverty & households

	Fairfield	Ocracoke
Poverty rate	9.1%	16.8%
Average household size	3.17	1.81
Mean commute (minutes)	—	20
Median year structure built	1994	1980