Beach townsNorth Carolina2026

North Carolina Beach Towns

Carolina Beach, Kill Devil Hills and Oak Island were the most booked of the 31 beach towns in North Carolina on Airbnb in the 12 months to October 2026, with an estimated 39,719, 28,483 and 27,765 stays. July is the busiest month across them, and the typical stay is 5.1 nights.

Source: AirROI Reviewed by Jun Zhou, Founder @ AirROI Updated November 4, 2026

Figures are AirROI estimates. How they are made

Among the 20 towns with 200+ homes

Most booked of these 20: Carolina Beach 39,719 stays
Highest revenue per home of these 20: Wrightsville Beach $63,443 a year
Highest rated of these 20: Beaufort 4.89 out of 5
Lowest nightly rate of these 20: Sunset Beach $287 a night
Longest typical stay of these 20: Avon and Topsail Beach 6.0 nights

Ranking

North Carolina Beach Towns Ranked by Airbnb Stays

Every one of the beach and coastal towns in North Carolina with 100 or more Airbnb homes and recent stays, most booked first.

North Carolina Beach Towns ranked by Airbnb stays, with homes, typical stay, busiest month, nightly rate, occupancy, revenue per home and guest rating

1	Carolina Beach	39,719	1,684	4.6 nights	July	$377	41%	$42,153	4.78
2	Kill Devil Hills	28,483	1,224	4.9 nights	July	$357	43%	$42,624	4.81
3	Oak Island	27,765	1,615	5.4 nights	July	$496	37%	$43,213	4.77
4	North Topsail Beach	17,464	909	5.1 nights	July	$492	38%	$50,047	4.78
5	Nags Head	16,560	904	5.5 nights	July	$500	40%	$54,564	4.71
6	Surf City	14,977	754	5.0 nights	June	$444	38%	$48,438	4.82
7	Wrightsville Beach	12,636	516	4.6 nights	July	$581	40%	$63,443	4.75
8	Emerald Isle	11,049	538	5.0 nights	July	$451	40%	$49,134	4.87
9	Corolla	10,906	784	5.9 nights	July	$600	39%	$59,537	4.69
10	Kure Beach	10,746	501	4.6 nights	July	$493	39%	$52,083	4.77
11	Ocean Isle Beach	10,506	576	5.4 nights	July	$626	38%	$60,671	4.86
12	Atlantic Beach	10,031	535	5.0 nights	June	$337	38%	$33,313	4.82
13	Kitty Hawk	10,012	444	5.2 nights	July	$399	44%	$48,938	4.84
14	Beaufort	6,965	275	4.4 nights	June	$289	40%	$31,429	4.89
15	Sunset Beach	6,442	329	5.1 nights	July	$287	37%	$27,624	4.83
16	Duck	4,944	285	5.9 nights	July	$518	42%	$57,936	4.77
17	Manteo	4,706	182	3.6 nights	July	$312	37%	$33,381	4.83
18	Holden Beach	4,519	315	5.8 nights	July	$562	36%	$47,003	4.82
19	Avon	4,305	302	6.0 nights	June	$403	39%	$36,419	4.72
20	Morehead City	3,511	161	4.7 nights	June	$269	39%	$27,035	4.88
21	Rodanthe	3,417	192	5.7 nights	July	$479	41%	$54,164	4.80
22	Southport	3,215	130	4.9 nights	July	$248	40%	$29,020	4.89
23	Southern Shores	3,151	168	5.9 nights	July	$498	43%	$56,416	4.84
24	Bald Head Island	2,888	218	4.9 nights	June	$760	29%	$55,666	4.85
25	Ocracoke	2,744	145	5.0 nights	July	$299	37%	$27,919	4.86
26	Topsail Beach	2,494	202	6.0 nights	July	$488	36%	$38,025	4.76
27	Buxton	2,232	138	4.7 nights	July	$253	34%	$19,019	4.69
28	Currituck County. Includes Carova Beach.	2,204	119	5.4 nights	August	$574	43%	$66,557	4.65
29	Frisco	2,190	122	5.4 nights	July	$323	40%	$30,977	4.78
30	Sneads Ferry	2,038	108	4.5 nights	July	$282	35%	$23,935	4.90
31	Hatteras	1,837	154	4.7 nights	July	$347	31%	$23,867	4.64

Figures are AirROI estimates for the 12 months to October 2026, and stays count Airbnb bookings only. Typical stay is a booking's length, occupancy the share of available nights booked, and revenue the yearly average per home, before costs. Guest rating is out of 5. Airbnb data files some places as one district or township, so Currituck County and rows like it cover several towns.

Town by town

Where the Top Towns Stand Out

7 of 8 are busiest in July. Surf City peaks in June. Among guests who left a review, Raleigh is the top home city in 4 of the 8. Houses are the largest home type in 7 of the 8. The lines below add what the table can't show, where one of the 8 most booked towns leads its peers or differs from the rest.

Carolina Beach
Of the 20 beach towns in North Carolina with 200 or more homes, Carolina Beach had the most Airbnb homes, at 1,684, in the 12 months to October 2026. Apartments and condos were the largest home type in Carolina Beach, at 50% of homes.
Oak Island
In the 12 months to October 2026, among guests who left a review, Charlotte was the top home city for Oak Island, North Carolina, at 8.6%.
7
Wrightsville Beach
In the 12 months to October 2026, among guests who left a review, Charlotte was the top home city for Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina, at 7.9%.

When to go

Busiest and Quietest Months

July, June and August rank as the busiest months for Airbnb nights across the beach towns in North Carolina, and February and January as the quietest. July is the busiest month in 24 of the 31, while Surf City, Atlantic Beach and Beaufort peak in June. Across the 31 towns, nightly rates run lowest in February, at about $384, and highest in July, at about $574. Across the 31 towns, stays run longest in July, at 6.2 nights, and shortest in September, at 3.8 nights.

July ranks first, January last

Airbnb months in calendar order. The number is the month's rank, and 1 is the busiest. The bar shows its part of Airbnb nights.

Three busiest months
Other months

Month by month: rank, typical stay and nightly rate

Months in North Carolina by rank
Rank	Month	Typical stay	Nightly rate
1	July	6.2 nights	$574
2	June	5.8 nights	$570
3	August	4.7 nights	$516
4	May	4.7 nights	$458
5	September	3.8 nights	$423
6	April	4.8 nights	$406
7	October	3.9 nights	$396
8	March	4.8 nights	$391
9	November	4.0 nights	$386
10	December	4.5 nights	$391
11	February	5.5 nights	$384
12	January	5.2 nights	$387

Who comes

Where Guests Come From

Among guests who left a review, 98.4% come from within the United States. The top home cities among those guests are Raleigh, Charlotte and Durham. Duck draws the most from abroad, at 2.6%, among towns with 200 or more homes.

Top home cities

Among guests who left a review

98.4% from within the United States

Raleigh 5.7%
Charlotte 4%
Durham 1.9%
Richmond 1.6%

The money view

Revenue, Occupancy and Nightly Rate

Among the 20 towns with 200 or more Airbnb homes, Wrightsville Beach has the highest estimated revenue per home, at $63,443 a year. Of those 20, Kitty Hawk has the highest occupancy, at 44%, and Sunset Beach has the lowest nightly rate on Airbnb, at $287. The most booked of the 31, Carolina Beach, earns about $42,153 per home.

Highest revenue per home of these 20

A year, AirROI estimate

Wrightsville Beach $63,443
Ocean Isle Beach $60,671
Corolla $59,537
Duck $57,936
Bald Head Island $55,666

Highest occupancy of these 20

Nights booked, AirROI estimate

Lowest nightly rate of these 20

On Airbnb, AirROI estimate

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the most popular beach town in North Carolina?

By AirROI's estimates, Carolina Beach is the most booked of the 31 beach towns in North Carolina, with 39,719 Airbnb stays in the 12 months to October 2026. Kill Devil Hills is second, with 28,483. This counts Airbnb bookings only.

What is the most affordable beach town in North Carolina?

By AirROI's estimated nightly rate on Airbnb in the 12 months to October 2026, among beach towns in North Carolina with 200 or more homes, the lowest are Sunset Beach ($287), Beaufort ($289) and Atlantic Beach ($337). That is the average asking price on booked nights, not what it costs to live or buy there.

What are some small beach towns in North Carolina?

By AirROI's count of active Airbnb homes as of October 2026, the smallest of the 31 beach towns it lists in North Carolina are Sneads Ferry (108), Currituck County (119) and Frisco (122). AirROI's list starts at 100 homes, so smaller places are not on it.

What beach towns in North Carolina offer the strongest Airbnb returns?

Returns depend on what a home costs to buy and run, which AirROI's figures do not cover. On AirROI's estimated revenue per home in the 12 months to October 2026, among beach towns in North Carolina with 200 or more homes, the highest are Wrightsville Beach ($63,443), Ocean Isle Beach ($60,671) and Corolla ($59,537). Among the same towns, Kitty Hawk has the highest occupancy, at 44%.

Method

How These Lists and Numbers Are Made

How a town gets on this list. A town needs 100 or more Airbnb homes with recent stays. A language model then judges the place from its name, state, country and coordinates, not from words in its name: it has to be on an ocean or sea coast with its own beach, seafront or harbour, or on a Great Lake with a public beach, and within about 10 km of the shore. The town's own listings can back that up, with 30% of its homes listing beach access, or 10% with ocean views, waterfront homes or beach in their titles besides. A town whose listings do not gets a second, stricter check, which asks whether people go there for that or mainly for something else. Big cities stay off. Corrections come last: places the checks got wrong are added or taken off, and rows that name one place are joined.

How the figures are made. Stays, occupancy, nightly rate and revenue are AirROI estimates built from Airbnb listing data, and cover Airbnb only. A town's stays are its bookings in the period, and the typical stay and busiest month come from the same data. Guest ratings, home sizes and how far ahead guests book are the latest figures in each town's AirROI data. Month ranks compare each month's part of Airbnb nights. Origin rests on 684,975 reviews and describes guests who left a review, not everyone who stayed. A town needs 1,000 reviews before this page gives its share from abroad.