Topsail Beach vs Watha

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

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

Topsail Beach has the higher population (444 vs 244 in Watha). Topsail Beach has the higher median household income ($90,833 vs $36,042 in Watha). Topsail Beach has the higher median home value ($630,500 vs $100,000 in Watha).

Population, income & housing

	Topsail Beach	Watha
Population	444	244
Median age	66.2 yrs	34.7 yrs
Median household income	$90,833	$36,042
Median home value	$630,500	$100,000
Median gross rent	$1,250	$683
Housing units	1,295	93
Homeownership rate	94.4%	84.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	63.2%	10.2%
Unemployment rate	2.4%	20.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Topsail Beach	Watha
Population	409 → 444 (+8.6%)	185 → 244 (+31.9%)
Median household income	$78,750 → $90,833 (+15.3%)	$33,125 → $36,042 (+8.8%)
Median home value	$552,300 → $630,500 (+14.2%)	$115,600 → $100,000 (-13.5%)
Median gross rent	$1,063 → $1,250 (+17.6%)	$568 → $683 (+20.2%)

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

Watha

Population

185244

Median household income

$33,125$36,042

Median home value

$115,600$100,000

Median gross rent

$568$683

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Topsail Beach	Watha
Under 5	0.5%	5.3%
5 to 17	6.8%	14.8%
18 to 24	0.5%	7.4%
25 to 34	1.8%	23.8%
35 to 44	6.1%	7.8%
45 to 54	9.9%	4.9%
55 to 64	21.6%	16.4%
65 to 74	32.0%	16.0%
75 and over	20.9%	3.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Topsail Beach	Watha
White (non-Hispanic)	99.3%	79.5%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.4%
Asian	0.0%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	0.7%	7.4%
Hispanic or Latino	0.0%	12.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Topsail Beach	Watha
No high school diploma	1.2%	21.5%
High school graduate	8.8%	36.2%
Some college or associate's	26.8%	32.2%
Bachelor's degree	36.6%	8.5%
Graduate or professional degree	26.6%	1.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Topsail Beach	Watha
Drove alone	56.1%	73.3%
Carpooled	1.3%	8.0%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	1.3%	0.0%
Bicycle	3.2%	0.0%
Worked from home	37.6%	18.7%
Other means	0.6%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Topsail Beach	Watha
1-unit, detached	88.0%	68.8%
1-unit, attached	3.0%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	6.2%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	2.8%	0.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	31.2%

Poverty & households

	Topsail Beach	Watha
Poverty rate	10.6%	20.1%
Average household size	1.91	2.87
Mean commute (minutes)	38	30
Median year structure built	1986	1980