Town · Brunswick County, North Carolina

Sunset Beach, North Carolina

Sunset Beach is a town in Brunswick County, North Carolina, part of the Wilmington, NC metro area. It has 4,351 residents. Sunset Beach, North Carolina has a quality-of-life score of 77 out of 100 (high), ranking #3,652 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within North Carolina it ranks #76 of 458 cities and towns. It ranks best on voter turnout (high), mammography screening (high) and new homes permitted (high). It ranks worst on natural hazard risk (high), distance to an emergency room (high) and homicide rate (high).

77High

Quality-of-life score: #3,652 of 15,651 cities and towns
North Carolina: #76 of 458 in NC
Population: 4,351 (2020-2024)
Land area: 6 mi²
Density: 675.1 /mi²
FIPS code: 3765900

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 74 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety30#10,911/15,637
Economy79#3,251/15,631
Housing81#2,823/14,977
Health62#5,980/15,609
Healthcare63#5,722/15,650
Environment56#6,732/15,453
Education77#3,662/15,649
Infrastructure86#2,204/15,650
Community63#5,757/15,651
Leisure & amenities52#7,570/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Sunset Beach, North Carolina ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Brunswick County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Voter turnout · high85.4%
99/100North Carolina 72.9%United States 65.2%2024U.S. Election Assistance CommissionBrunswick County value
Mammography screening · high61.0%
99/100North Carolina 50.0%United States 46.0%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteBrunswick County value
New homes permitted · high41.1 /1k
99/100North Carolina 8.0 /1kUnited States 4.2 /1kSep 2025–Aug 2026U.S. Census BureauProvisional data
Job growth · high3.6%
96/100North Carolina 0.8%United States 0.1%2026 Q1U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsProvisional dataBrunswick County value
Unemployment rate · low0.7%
94/100North Carolina 3.8%United States 4.3%2020-2024U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Census table B23025High uncertainty
Comfortable days · high33.6%
92/100North Carolina 30.0%United States 26.8%2016-2025NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationBrunswick County value

Weaknesses

Natural hazard risk · high98.0
2/100North Carolina 45.12025Federal Emergency Management AgencyBrunswick County value
Distance to an emergency room · high10.8 mi
14/100North Carolina 7.9 miUnited States 5.5 miJul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesBrunswick County value
Homicide rate · high6.9 /100k
17/100North Carolina 6.9 /100kUnited States 4.8 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataBrunswick County value
Distance to an Amtrak station · high71 mi
18/100North Carolina 23 miUnited States 43 mi2026Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauBrunswick County value
Primary care physicians · low39 /100k
20/100North Carolina 71 /100kUnited States 76 /100k2022University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteBrunswick County value
Home price to income ratio · high5.0×
20/100North Carolina 4.0×United States 4.1×2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25077

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

PopulationRising
3,901 (2015-2019) → 4,351 (2020-2024)
+12%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Unemployment rateImproving
13.0% (2015-2019) → 0.7% (2020-2024)
−12 pts5 yearsCensus table B23025US 3.7% → 4.0%
Child poverty rateWorsening
0.0% (2015-2019) → 12.2% (2020-2024)
+12 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Median household incomeImproving
$57,265 (2015-2019) → $81,976 (2020-2024)
+43%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Bachelor's degree or higherWorsening
48.2% (2015-2019) → 40.0% (2020-2024)
−8.2 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
87.6% (2015-2019) → 95.6% (2020-2024)
+8 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Sunset Beach, North Carolina improved on 2 of 11 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 9 moved within the margin of error and 0 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved2

Household income+43%$57,265 → $81,976
Broadband+8 points87.6% → 95.6%

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 11 measures

Change of every measure of Sunset Beach, North Carolina between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	29.5 min2015-2019	19.5 min2020-2024	−10.0 min	Within the margin of error	98%
Bachelor's degree or higher	48.2%2015-2019	40.0%2020-2024	−8.2 points	Within the margin of error	3%
Broadband subscriptions	87.6%2015-2019	95.6%2020-2024	+8 points	Improved	49%
Effective property tax rate	0.62%2015-2019	0.54%2020-2024	−0.1 points	Within the margin of error	31%
High school diploma or higher	98.1%2015-2019	98.3%2020-2024	+0.2 points	Within the margin of error	36%
Home price to income ratio	4.7×2015-2019	5.0×2020-2024	+0.3×	Within the margin of error	59%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4132015-2019	0.4512020-2024	+0.038	Within the margin of error	22%
Median household income	$57,2652015-2019	$81,9762020-2024	+43%	Improved	78%
Poverty rate	8.6%2015-2019	5.7%2020-2024	−2.9 points	Within the margin of error	69%
Public transit commuters	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Rent as share of income	24.5%2015-2019	18.4%2020-2024	−6.1 points	Within the margin of error	86%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Sunset Beach, North Carolina five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Sunset Beach, North Carolina in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Sunset Beach, North Carolina itself moved +6.1 points in standing on average over the same 9 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

4,351 residents (±30)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79
60–69†

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

2,381 households (±201)

Sunset Beach, North Carolina
North Carolina share

Under $25k15%†363
$25k–50k17%†415
$50k–75k

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

2,381 households (±201)

Sunset Beach, North Carolina
North Carolina share

Own86%2,057
Rent14%†324

No change since 2015–2019 is larger than the margin of error.

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

1,336 workers (±324)

Sunset Beach, North Carolina
North Carolina share

Drive alone73%†979
Carpool2.1%†28
Public transit

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Wilmington, NC

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Brunswick County, the county holding most of Sunset Beach's residents.

Brunswick County has 3,093 employer establishments, 194 for every 10,000 residents (0.78× the US rate of 248; 0.82× North Carolina's), with 33,646 paid employees at an average annual pay of $43,974. The Census Bureau also counts 15,729 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 3,093; 15,729 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 194; US 248 · North Carolina 237
Paid employees: 33,646
Average annual pay: $43,974; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Brunswick County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Restaurants and other eating places	315	19.8	1.08×About typical	5,660	$22,929	55
Specialty trade contractors	282	17.7	1.14×About typical	1,946	$54,746	1,255
Lessors of real estate	206	12.9	1.05×About typical	806	$53,587	1,922
Ambulatory health care services	204	12.8	0.61×Fewer than typical	2,033	$60,131	574
Construction of buildings	181	11.4	1.50×More than typical	781	$60,170	700
Building equipment contractors	144	9	1.50×More than typical	1,105	$53,046	200
Full-service restaurants	144	9	1.18×About typical	2,986	$26,501	25
Services to buildings and dwellings	130	8.2	1.21×About typical	1,103	$40,153	1,585
Limited-service restaurants	124	7.8	0.97×About typical	2,242	$19,012	21
Real estate agents and brokers	124	7.8	1.60×More than typical	360	$55,131	864
Landscaping services	76	4.8	1.36×More than typical	549	$48,718	410
Religious organizations	73	4.6	0.83×About typical	364	$26,514	—

Rank places for an industry Open Brunswick County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 159,425 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

No federal contract obligations recorded here in FY2026.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Sunset Beach is mostly in Brunswick County.

See federal money in Brunswick County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Sunset Beach, North Carolina is represented in the 119th Congress by these members.

House

David RouzerR-NC-7 · 100% of residentsWith party 100%Missed 1.5%

Senate

Explore Congress The 2026 races

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Brunswick County70100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Wilmington, NC81

Other cities and towns in Brunswick County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Building Permits SurveyU.S. Census Bureau · release 2026-08
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/3765900

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends