Burgaw vs Topsail Beach

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

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

Burgaw has the higher population (3,249 vs 444 in Topsail Beach). Topsail Beach has the higher median household income ($90,833 vs $65,514 in Burgaw). Topsail Beach has the higher median home value ($630,500 vs $207,400 in Burgaw).

Population, income & housing

	Burgaw	Topsail Beach
Population	3,249	444
Median age	45.1 yrs	66.2 yrs
Median household income	$65,514	$90,833
Median home value	$207,400	$630,500
Median gross rent	$1,020	$1,250
Housing units	1,317	1,295
Homeownership rate	66.9%	94.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	19.8%	63.2%
Unemployment rate	11.5%	2.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Burgaw	Topsail Beach
Population	4,080 → 3,249 (-20.4%)	409 → 444 (+8.6%)
Median household income	$37,616 → $65,514 (+74.2%)	$78,750 → $90,833 (+15.3%)
Median home value	$163,000 → $207,400 (+27.2%)	$552,300 → $630,500 (+14.2%)
Median gross rent	$779 → $1,020 (+30.9%)	$1,063 → $1,250 (+17.6%)

Burgaw

Population

4,0803,249

Median household income

$37,616$65,514

Median home value

$163,000$207,400

Median gross rent

$779$1,020

Topsail Beach

Population

409444

Median household income

$78,750$90,833

Median home value

$552,300$630,500

Median gross rent

$1,063$1,250

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Burgaw	Topsail Beach
Under 5	5.5%	0.5%
5 to 17	13.5%	6.8%
18 to 24	7.8%	0.5%
25 to 34	10.4%	1.8%
35 to 44	12.6%	6.1%
45 to 54	11.4%	9.9%
55 to 64	18.8%	21.6%
65 to 74	13.0%	32.0%
75 and over	7.0%	20.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Burgaw	Topsail Beach
White (non-Hispanic)	54.2%	99.3%
Black or African American	29.6%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.5%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.0%
Two or more races	5.4%	0.7%
Hispanic or Latino	9.8%	0.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Burgaw	Topsail Beach
No high school diploma	19.3%	1.2%
High school graduate	28.6%	8.8%
Some college or associate's	32.3%	26.8%
Bachelor's degree	12.0%	36.6%
Graduate or professional degree	7.8%	26.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Burgaw	Topsail Beach
Drove alone	82.0%	56.1%
Carpooled	7.5%	1.3%
Public transit	0.2%	0.0%
Walked	0.0%	1.3%
Bicycle	0.0%	3.2%
Worked from home	9.5%	37.6%
Other means	0.8%	0.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Burgaw	Topsail Beach
1-unit, detached	71.1%	88.0%
1-unit, attached	3.0%	3.0%
2 to 4 units	4.6%	6.2%
5 to 19 units	7.4%	2.8%
20 or more units	1.6%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	12.2%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Burgaw	Topsail Beach
Poverty rate	22.3%	10.6%
Average household size	2.29	1.91
Mean commute (minutes)	28	38
Median year structure built	1988	1986