North Topsail Beach vs Swansboro

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

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

Swansboro has the higher population (3,887 vs 699 in North Topsail Beach). Swansboro has the higher median household income ($112,382 vs $106,818 in North Topsail Beach). North Topsail Beach has the higher median home value ($453,500 vs $356,900 in Swansboro).

Population, income & housing

	North Topsail Beach	Swansboro
Population	699	3,887
Median age	60.6 yrs	43.3 yrs
Median household income	$106,818	$112,382
Median home value	$453,500	$356,900
Median gross rent	$1,208	$1,380
Housing units	2,791	1,783
Homeownership rate	92.3%	71.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	52.7%	38.0%
Unemployment rate	3.4%	0.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	North Topsail Beach	Swansboro
Population	846 → 699 (-17.4%)	3,217 → 3,887 (+20.8%)
Median household income	$57,500 → $106,818 (+85.8%)	$48,922 → $112,382 (+129.7%)
Median home value	$290,700 → $453,500 (+56.0%)	$202,000 → $356,900 (+76.7%)
Median gross rent	$1,174 → $1,208 (+2.9%)	$1,108 → $1,380 (+24.5%)

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

Swansboro

Population

3,2173,887

Median household income

$48,922$112,382

Median home value

$202,000$356,900

Median gross rent

$1,108$1,380

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	North Topsail Beach	Swansboro
Under 5	0.9%	8.4%
5 to 17	2.7%	16.3%
18 to 24	3.3%	5.8%
25 to 34	3.3%	10.4%
35 to 44	8.3%	12.5%
45 to 54	13.6%	13.3%
55 to 64	30.6%	11.4%
65 to 74	30.6%	16.6%
75 and over	6.7%	5.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	North Topsail Beach	Swansboro
White (non-Hispanic)	89.6%	86.2%
Black or African American	2.3%	2.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.7%	0.0%
Two or more races	3.7%	5.9%
Hispanic or Latino	3.4%	4.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	North Topsail Beach	Swansboro
No high school diploma	1.5%	4.1%
High school graduate	18.3%	18.0%
Some college or associate's	27.5%	39.9%
Bachelor's degree	34.3%	19.8%
Graduate or professional degree	18.4%	18.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	North Topsail Beach	Swansboro
Drove alone	53.9%	64.6%
Carpooled	1.2%	12.7%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.0%	3.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	44.9%	18.3%
Other means	0.0%	1.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	North Topsail Beach	Swansboro
1-unit, detached	45.8%	83.2%
1-unit, attached	18.3%	4.2%
2 to 4 units	4.1%	2.2%
5 to 19 units	1.3%	6.0%
20 or more units	25.7%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	4.8%	4.4%

Poverty & households

	North Topsail Beach	Swansboro
Poverty rate	6.4%	9.6%
Average household size	1.86	2.51
Mean commute (minutes)	44	22
Median year structure built	1989	2002