North Topsail Beach vs Richlands

A side-by-side comparison of North Topsail Beach and Richlands: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Richlands has the higher population (2,387 vs 699 in North Topsail Beach). North Topsail Beach has the higher median household income ($106,818 vs $61,607 in Richlands). North Topsail Beach has the higher median home value ($453,500 vs $217,800 in Richlands).

Population, income & housing

	North Topsail Beach	Richlands
Population	699	2,387
Median age	60.6 yrs	29.2 yrs
Median household income	$106,818	$61,607
Median home value	$453,500	$217,800
Median gross rent	$1,208	$929
Housing units	2,791	862
Homeownership rate	92.3%	64.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	52.7%	31.7%
Unemployment rate	3.4%	8.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	North Topsail Beach	Richlands
Population	846 → 699 (-17.4%)	2,364 → 2,387 (+1.0%)
Median household income	$57,500 → $106,818 (+85.8%)	$53,171 → $61,607 (+15.9%)
Median home value	$290,700 → $453,500 (+56.0%)	$181,700 → $217,800 (+19.9%)
Median gross rent	$1,174 → $1,208 (+2.9%)	$796 → $929 (+16.7%)

North Topsail Beach

Population

846699

Median household income

$57,500$106,818

Median home value

$290,700$453,500

Median gross rent

$1,174$1,208

Richlands

Population

2,3642,387

Median household income

$53,171$61,607

Median home value

$181,700$217,800

Median gross rent

$796$929

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	North Topsail Beach	Richlands
Under 5	0.9%	6.1%
5 to 17	2.7%	27.0%
18 to 24	3.3%	6.2%
25 to 34	3.3%	17.1%
35 to 44	8.3%	20.1%
45 to 54	13.6%	11.4%
55 to 64	30.6%	5.8%
65 to 74	30.6%	5.0%
75 and over	6.7%	1.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	North Topsail Beach	Richlands
White (non-Hispanic)	89.6%	66.8%
Black or African American	2.3%	15.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.1%
Asian	0.0%	0.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.7%	0.0%
Two or more races	3.7%	5.8%
Hispanic or Latino	3.4%	10.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	North Topsail Beach	Richlands
No high school diploma	1.5%	8.8%
High school graduate	18.3%	30.5%
Some college or associate's	27.5%	29.0%
Bachelor's degree	34.3%	16.2%
Graduate or professional degree	18.4%	15.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	North Topsail Beach	Richlands
Drove alone	53.9%	80.8%
Carpooled	1.2%	4.6%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.0%	1.2%
Bicycle	0.0%	2.2%
Worked from home	44.9%	8.5%
Other means	0.0%	2.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	North Topsail Beach	Richlands
1-unit, detached	45.8%	82.5%
1-unit, attached	18.3%	4.4%
2 to 4 units	4.1%	5.1%
5 to 19 units	1.3%	3.1%
20 or more units	25.7%	0.6%
Mobile home & other	4.8%	4.3%

Poverty & households

	North Topsail Beach	Richlands
Poverty rate	6.4%	10.4%
Average household size	1.86	3.14
Mean commute (minutes)	44	36
Median year structure built	1989	2001