Surf City, NC population, income and ZIP codes

Surf City town is a small town in North Carolina, with 4,160 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #200 of 777 ranked by population — larger than 74% of them. The median age here is 39.8 years against 39.1 nationally, a slightly older profile than the country as a whole. At this population the ACS sample is small, so the margin of error around every dollar figure below is wide — treat the numbers as a band, not a point, and expect them to move between annual releases without the place itself changing.

Households in Surf City town earn a median of $84,833 a year, 8% above the national figure of $78,538 and 39% above the $61,228 median for the 459 North Carolina cities we cover. Household income here is measured before tax and pooled across everyone at the address, which is why it reads higher than typical individual earnings in the same area. Poverty reaches 4.9% of residents here, less than half the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in Surf City town is valued at $478,600, 57.7% above the national figure and 118% above the $219,800 peer median, while median gross rent runs $1,421 a month, 1.1% above the national figure, or roughly $17,052 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 20.1% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is within the standard affordability guideline. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 5.6×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so buying is harder here than in the average US market. 76.5% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, so the market leans toward owners. The rent line includes utilities paid by the tenant, a definition worth remembering when comparing it against a landlord's quoted rate.

All values below were released by the Census for this exact geography, with no gap-filling on our side. Small-area estimates still carry wider margins of error than state or national figures, so check the linked ACS tables before relying on them for lending, appraisal or legal work.