St. Helena vs Surf City

A side-by-side comparison of St. Helena and Surf City: population, income, housing, and more.

St. Helena and Surf City are places in North Carolina. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Surf City has the higher population (4,160 vs 580 in St. Helena). Surf City has the higher median household income ($84,833 vs $77,000 in St. Helena). Surf City has the higher median home value ($478,600 vs $209,200 in St. Helena).

Population, income & housing

	St. Helena	Surf City
Population	580	4,160
Median age	47.6 yrs	39.8 yrs
Median household income	$77,000	$84,833
Median home value	$209,200	$478,600
Median gross rent	$1,661	$1,421
Housing units	223	4,447
Homeownership rate	84.3%	76.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	26.8%	50.8%
Unemployment rate	5.7%	1.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	St. Helena	Surf City
Population	399 → 580 (+45.4%)	3,449 → 4,160 (+20.6%)
Median household income	$63,281 → $77,000 (+21.7%)	$75,556 → $84,833 (+12.3%)
Median home value	$178,400 → $209,200 (+17.3%)	$275,700 → $478,600 (+73.6%)
Median gross rent	$725 → $1,661 (+129.1%)	$1,146 → $1,421 (+24.0%)

St. Helena

Population

399580

Median household income

$63,281$77,000

Median home value

$178,400$209,200

Median gross rent

$725$1,661

Surf City

Population

3,4494,160

Median household income

$75,556$84,833

Median home value

$275,700$478,600

Median gross rent

$1,146$1,421

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	St. Helena	Surf City
Under 5	5.7%	3.3%
5 to 17	12.4%	20.2%
18 to 24	13.1%	6.5%
25 to 34	9.7%	9.7%
35 to 44	3.4%	16.1%
45 to 54	19.5%	8.9%
55 to 64	17.1%	16.5%
65 to 74	13.8%	15.2%
75 and over	5.3%	3.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	St. Helena	Surf City
White (non-Hispanic)	61.2%	86.4%
Black or African American	15.0%	4.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.7%	0.0%
Asian	2.1%	0.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	1.2%	0.2%
Two or more races	7.9%	2.6%
Hispanic or Latino	11.9%	5.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	St. Helena	Surf City
No high school diploma	12.0%	2.4%
High school graduate	29.3%	17.9%
Some college or associate's	31.8%	28.9%
Bachelor's degree	21.1%	29.0%
Graduate or professional degree	5.8%	21.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	St. Helena	Surf City
Drove alone	78.9%	66.1%
Carpooled	15.0%	6.7%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.0%	1.7%
Bicycle	0.8%	0.4%
Worked from home	5.3%	25.0%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	St. Helena	Surf City
1-unit, detached	83.0%	69.5%
1-unit, attached	0.9%	5.0%
2 to 4 units	2.2%	2.9%
5 to 19 units	0.4%	4.1%
20 or more units	0.0%	5.3%
Mobile home & other	13.5%	13.2%

Poverty & households

	St. Helena	Surf City
Poverty rate	23.9%	4.9%
Average household size	2.84	2.52
Mean commute (minutes)	25	23
Median year structure built	1984	2002