Rocky Point vs Topsail Beach

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

Rocky Point 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.

Rocky Point has the higher population (1,045 vs 444 in Topsail Beach). Topsail Beach has the higher median household income ($90,833 vs $52,591 in Rocky Point). Topsail Beach has the higher median home value ($630,500 vs $115,500 in Rocky Point).

Population, income & housing

	Rocky Point	Topsail Beach
Population	1,045	444
Median age	40.1 yrs	66.2 yrs
Median household income	$52,591	$90,833
Median home value	$115,500	$630,500
Median gross rent	$681	$1,250
Housing units	465	1,295
Homeownership rate	75.2%	94.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	6.9%	63.2%
Unemployment rate	7.3%	2.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Rocky Point	Topsail Beach
Population	1,687 → 1,045 (-38.1%)	409 → 444 (+8.6%)
Median household income	$34,196 → $52,591 (+53.8%)	$78,750 → $90,833 (+15.3%)
Median home value	$178,300 → $115,500 (-35.2%)	$552,300 → $630,500 (+14.2%)
Median gross rent	$638 → $681 (+6.7%)	$1,063 → $1,250 (+17.6%)

Rocky Point

Population

1,6871,045

Median household income

$34,196$52,591

Median home value

$178,300$115,500

Median gross rent

$638$681

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)

	Rocky Point	Topsail Beach
Under 5	4.9%	0.5%
5 to 17	23.3%	6.8%
18 to 24	8.3%	0.5%
25 to 34	9.6%	1.8%
35 to 44	14.1%	6.1%
45 to 54	17.3%	9.9%
55 to 64	10.3%	21.6%
65 to 74	6.6%	32.0%
75 and over	5.6%	20.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Rocky Point	Topsail Beach
White (non-Hispanic)	47.9%	99.3%
Black or African American	13.2%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	2.2%	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	4.8%	0.7%
Hispanic or Latino	31.9%	0.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Rocky Point	Topsail Beach
No high school diploma	37.1%	1.2%
High school graduate	23.5%	8.8%
Some college or associate's	32.4%	26.8%
Bachelor's degree	6.9%	36.6%
Graduate or professional degree	0.0%	26.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Rocky Point	Topsail Beach
Drove alone	68.9%	56.1%
Carpooled	18.1%	1.3%
Public transit	12.6%	0.0%
Walked	0.4%	1.3%
Bicycle	0.0%	3.2%
Worked from home	0.0%	37.6%
Other means	0.0%	0.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Rocky Point	Topsail Beach
1-unit, detached	58.5%	88.0%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	3.0%
2 to 4 units	0.0%	6.2%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	2.8%
20 or more units	0.4%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	41.1%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Rocky Point	Topsail Beach
Poverty rate	37.8%	10.6%
Average household size	2.70	1.91
Mean commute (minutes)	37	38
Median year structure built	1992	1986