Dare County, NC
Demographic and economic profile of Dare County, NC, sourced from the US Census Bureau (American Community Survey) via Data USA.
AI Overview
Dare County is a small coastal community of 37,534 residents with an economy heavily oriented toward tourism and recreation, reflected in a median age of 49.0 years, a labor force participation rate of 64.1%, and an unemployment rate of 5.9% that likely reflects seasonal employment patterns. The workforce is relatively well-educated, with 42.8% holding a bachelor's degree or higher and 95.2% completing high school, though median worker earnings of $38,764 trail a median household income of $88,994, suggesting reliance on multi-income households or investment income. Population grew 5.0% over five years, but a median home value of $425,400 and GDP per capita of $63,199 point to a high-cost, tourism-driven economy where housing costs substantially outpace worker wages.
Claude Sonnet 4.6 · generated Jul 6, 2026 · derived from cached Census, BEA & ACS data on this page
Population Growth (5-year)
+5.0% since 2018
Dare County added population at this rate over the prior 5-year ACS5 window.
Demographics
Race & Ethnicity
- White Alone32,699 (86.3%)
- Two Races Including Some Other Race1,576 (4.2%)
- Some Other Race Alone1,419 (3.7%)
- Two Races Excluding Some Other Race, & Three or More Races975 (2.6%)
- Black or African American Alone964 (2.5%)
- Asian Alone185 (0.5%)
Top Languages Spoken at Home
- 1.Spanish2,222
- 2.French (incl. Cajun, Haitian)207
- 3.Other Indo-European156
- 4.Russian, Polish, or other Slavic85
- 5.Chinese (incl. Mandarin, Cantonese)85
Economy
Cost of Living Index
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Not yet cached
Top Industries
- 1.Educational Services, & Health Care & Social Assistance3,159
- 2.Arts, Entertainment, & Recreation, & Accommodation & Food Services2,592
- 3.Professional, Scientific, & Management, & Administrative & Waste Management Services2,522
- 4.Retail Trade (Group)2,480
- 5.Construction (Group)2,159
Top Occupations
- 1.Management, Business, Science, & Arts Occupations8,089
- 2.Sales & Office Occupations4,233
- 3.Service Occupations2,921
- 4.Natural Resources, Construction, & Maintenance Occupations2,482
- 5.Production, Transportation, & Material Moving Occupations1,529
Specialized Industries (Location Quotient)
- 1.Arts, Entertainment, Recreation, & Accommodation (LQ 1.77×)2,952
- 2.Construction (LQ 1.53×)2,013
- 3.Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing & Hunting, & Mining (LQ 1.47×)445
- 4.Finance, Insurance, & Real Estate (LQ 1.45×)1,836
- 5.Retail Trade (LQ 1.16×)2,394
Housing
Education
Workforce
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More on FDI Connect
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Data: US Census Bureau American Community Survey, served via Data USA and the Census Bureau API. See each metric tile for the specific dataset.