St. Helena vs Topsail Beach

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

St. Helena 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.

St. Helena has the higher population (580 vs 444 in Topsail Beach). Topsail Beach has the higher median household income ($90,833 vs $77,000 in St. Helena). Topsail Beach has the higher median home value ($630,500 vs $209,200 in St. Helena).

Population, income & housing

	St. Helena	Topsail Beach
Population	580	444
Median age	47.6 yrs	66.2 yrs
Median household income	$77,000	$90,833
Median home value	$209,200	$630,500
Median gross rent	$1,661	$1,250
Housing units	223	1,295
Homeownership rate	84.3%	94.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	26.8%	63.2%
Unemployment rate	5.7%	2.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	St. Helena	Topsail Beach
Population	399 → 580 (+45.4%)	409 → 444 (+8.6%)
Median household income	$63,281 → $77,000 (+21.7%)	$78,750 → $90,833 (+15.3%)
Median home value	$178,400 → $209,200 (+17.3%)	$552,300 → $630,500 (+14.2%)
Median gross rent	$725 → $1,661 (+129.1%)	$1,063 → $1,250 (+17.6%)

St. Helena

Population

399580

Median household income

$63,281$77,000

Median home value

$178,400$209,200

Median gross rent

$725$1,661

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)

	St. Helena	Topsail Beach
Under 5	5.7%	0.5%
5 to 17	12.4%	6.8%
18 to 24	13.1%	0.5%
25 to 34	9.7%	1.8%
35 to 44	3.4%	6.1%
45 to 54	19.5%	9.9%
55 to 64	17.1%	21.6%
65 to 74	13.8%	32.0%
75 and over	5.3%	20.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	St. Helena	Topsail Beach
White (non-Hispanic)	61.2%	99.3%
Black or African American	15.0%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.7%	0.0%
Asian	2.1%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	1.2%	0.0%
Two or more races	7.9%	0.7%
Hispanic or Latino	11.9%	0.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	St. Helena	Topsail Beach
No high school diploma	12.0%	1.2%
High school graduate	29.3%	8.8%
Some college or associate's	31.8%	26.8%
Bachelor's degree	21.1%	36.6%
Graduate or professional degree	5.8%	26.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	St. Helena	Topsail Beach
Drove alone	78.9%	56.1%
Carpooled	15.0%	1.3%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.0%	1.3%
Bicycle	0.8%	3.2%
Worked from home	5.3%	37.6%
Other means	0.0%	0.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	St. Helena	Topsail Beach
1-unit, detached	83.0%	88.0%
1-unit, attached	0.9%	3.0%
2 to 4 units	2.2%	6.2%
5 to 19 units	0.4%	2.8%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	13.5%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	St. Helena	Topsail Beach
Poverty rate	23.9%	10.6%
Average household size	2.84	1.91
Mean commute (minutes)	25	38
Median year structure built	1984	1986