Castle Hayne vs Wrightsville Beach

A side-by-side comparison of Castle Hayne and Wrightsville Beach: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Wrightsville Beach has the higher population (2,679 vs 978 in Castle Hayne). Wrightsville Beach has the higher median household income ($167,273 vs $69,729 in Castle Hayne). Wrightsville Beach has the higher median home value ($1,041,800 vs $326,700 in Castle Hayne).

Population, income & housing

	Castle Hayne	Wrightsville Beach
Population	978	2,679
Median age	55.7 yrs	56.1 yrs
Median household income	$69,729	$167,273
Median home value	$326,700	$1,041,800
Median gross rent	$897	$1,892
Housing units	431	2,926
Homeownership rate	83.3%	81.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	28.1%	71.6%
Unemployment rate	0.0%	1.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Castle Hayne	Wrightsville Beach
Population	1,027 → 978 (-4.8%)	2,565 → 2,679 (+4.4%)
Median household income	$43,955 → $69,729 (+58.6%)	$109,013 → $167,273 (+53.4%)
Median home value	$175,900 → $326,700 (+85.7%)	$798,700 → $1,041,800 (+30.4%)
Median gross rent	$776 → $897 (+15.6%)	$1,655 → $1,892 (+14.3%)

Castle Hayne

Population

1,027978

Median household income

$43,955$69,729

Median home value

$175,900$326,700

Median gross rent

$776$897

Wrightsville Beach

Population

2,5652,679

Median household income

$109,013$167,273

Median home value

$798,700$1,041,800

Median gross rent

$1,655$1,892

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Castle Hayne	Wrightsville Beach
Under 5	0.0%	3.0%
5 to 17	22.5%	10.0%
18 to 24	3.4%	4.6%
25 to 34	9.1%	8.9%
35 to 44	6.9%	9.3%
45 to 54	6.7%	12.7%
55 to 64	15.6%	20.8%
65 to 74	20.2%	21.1%
75 and over	15.5%	9.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Castle Hayne	Wrightsville Beach
White (non-Hispanic)	76.4%	94.3%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	1.4%	0.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	0.0%	1.8%
Hispanic or Latino	22.2%	2.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Castle Hayne	Wrightsville Beach
No high school diploma	8.1%	0.7%
High school graduate	21.9%	11.9%
Some college or associate's	41.8%	15.8%
Bachelor's degree	26.5%	46.3%
Graduate or professional degree	1.7%	25.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Castle Hayne	Wrightsville Beach
Drove alone	84.3%	69.9%
Carpooled	5.6%	3.3%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.0%	1.5%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	10.1%	24.8%
Other means	0.0%	0.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Castle Hayne	Wrightsville Beach
1-unit, detached	78.7%	44.5%
1-unit, attached	4.9%	9.8%
2 to 4 units	8.6%	19.1%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	14.6%
20 or more units	0.0%	11.6%
Mobile home & other	7.9%	0.3%

Poverty & households

	Castle Hayne	Wrightsville Beach
Poverty rate	8.1%	3.6%
Average household size	2.27	2.06
Mean commute (minutes)	26	17
Median year structure built	1989	1978