Holly Ridge is a somewhat small coastal town (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of North Carolina. With a population of 5,170 people and just one neighborhood, Holly Ridge is the 198th largest community in North Carolina. Much of the housing stock in Holly Ridge was built relatively recently. The construction of new real estate can often be taken as an indication that the local Holly Ridge economy is robust, and that jobs or other amenities are attracting an influx of new residents. This seems to be the case in Holly Ridge, where the median household income is $106,230.00.
Holly Ridge real estate is some of the most expensive in North Carolina, although Holly Ridge house values don't compare to the most expensive real estate in the U.S.
10.87% of the workforce is employed in the armed forces, making the military a huge focus of life in Holly Ridge. Even though it is a military town, the civilian sector still plays an important role in the local economy. The Manufacturing and Construction industries respectively employ 15.12% and 14.24% of the civilian workforce.
Of important note, Holly Ridge is also a town of artists. Holly Ridge has more artists, designers and people working in media than 90% of the communities in America. This concentration of artists helps shape Holly Ridge’s character.
Telecommuters are a relatively large percentage of the workforce: 26.58% of people work from home. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce it is high relative to the nation. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes.
Because of many things, Holly Ridge is a very good place for families to consider. With an enviable combination of good schools, low crime, college-educated neighbors who tend to support education because of their own experiences, and a high rate of home ownership in predominantly single-family properties, Holly Ridge really has some of the features that families look for when choosing a good community to raise children. Is Holly Ridge perfect? Of course not, and if you like frenetic nightlife, it will be far from your cup of tea. But overall this is a solid community, with many things to recommend it as a family-friendly place to live.
One of the nice things about Holly Ridge is that it is nautical, which means that parts of it are somewhat historic and touch the ocean or tidal bodies of water, such as inlets and bays. Because of this, visitors and locals will often go to these areas to take in the scenery or to enjoy waterfront activities.
In Holly Ridge, however, the average commute to work is quite long. On average, people spend 33.53 minutes each day getting to work, which is significantly higher than the national average.
Being a small town, Holly Ridge does not have a public transit system used by locals to get to and from work.
The education level of Holly Ridge ranks among the highest in the nation. Of the 25-and-older adult population in Holly Ridge, 49.39% have at least a bachelor's degree. The typical US community has just 21.84% of its adults holding a bachelor's degree or graduate degree.
The per capita income in Holly Ridge in 2022 was $52,056, which is wealthy relative to North Carolina and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $208,224 for a family of four. However, Holly Ridge contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
Holly Ridge is a somewhat ethnically-diverse town. The people who call Holly Ridge home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Holly Ridge residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Holly Ridge include German, Irish, Italian, English, and Scottish.
The most common language spoken in Holly Ridge is English. Other important languages spoken here include Italian and Polish.
The way a neighborhood looks and feels when you walk or drive around it, from its setting, its buildings, and its flavor, can make all the difference. This neighborhood has some really cool things about the way it looks and feels as revealed by NeighborhoodScout's exclusive research. This might include anything from the housing stock to the types of households living here to how people get around.
Do you like a coastal setting? If so, this neighborhood may be to your liking. The neighborhood is on the ocean, a bay, or inlet. Often such coastal places have amenities and recreational activities on the waterfront that are attractive to residents and visitors alike. In addition to being coastal, is a very nautical neighborhood, meaning that it is somewhat historic, walkable, densely populated and on the water. This gives the neighborhood a very nautical feel, with some seaside and shipping feel, which some may really enjoy the sights and sounds of.
In addition, if you like the look and ambience of new homes and newly built neighborhoods, you will love the neighborhood. A whopping 72.2% of the homes and other residential real estate here were built after 1999, which is a higher proportion of new homes then you will find in 95.9% of the neighborhoods in the U.S. Everything here just feels new.
The neighborhood stands out nationally for having a greater proportion of its residents active in the military than 99.4% of other U.S. neighborhoods. If you come here, you will notice military people active in their jobs, going to and from work, and in plain clothes out and about the neighborhood.
Astoundingly, NeighborhoodScout's research reveals that this single neighborhood has a higher concentration of married couples living here than 96.5% of all U.S. neighborhoods. Whether they have school-aged children or not, married couples are the rule in the neighborhood. If you are a married couple, you may find many people here with a similar lifestyle, and perhaps common interests. But if you are single, you might not find many other singles here.
There are two complementary measures for understanding the income of a neighborhood's residents: the average and the extremes. While a neighborhood may be relatively wealthy overall, it is equally important to understand the rate of people - particularly children - who are living at or below the federal poverty line, which is extremely low income. Some neighborhoods with a lower average income may actually have a lower childhood poverty rate than another with a higher average income, and this helps us understand the conditions and character of a neighborhood.
The neighbors in the neighborhood in Holly Ridge are upper-middle income, making it an above average income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 67.4% of the neighborhoods in America. In addition, 1.5% of the children seventeen and under living in this neighborhood are living below the federal poverty line, which is a lower rate of childhood poverty than is found in 76.7% of America's neighborhoods.
A neighborhood is far different if it is dominated by enlisted military personnel rather than people who earn their living by farming. It is also different if most of the neighbors are clerical support or managers. What is wonderful is the sheer diversity of neighborhoods, allowing you to find the type that fits your lifestyle and aspirations.
In the neighborhood, 43.3% of the working population is employed in executive, management, and professional occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants, with 26.1% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in manufacturing and laborer occupations (20.8%), and 10.7% in the military.
The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 95.3% of households. Some people also speak Spanish (3.4%).
Culture is shared learned behavior. We learn it from our parents, their parents, our houses of worship, and much of our culture – our learned behavior – comes from our ancestors. That is why ancestry and ethnicity can be so interesting and important to understand: places with concentrations of people of one or more ancestries often express those shared learned behaviors and this gives each neighborhood its own culture. Even different neighborhoods in the same city can have drastically different cultures.
In the neighborhood in Holly Ridge, NC, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as German (18.8%). There are also a number of people of Irish ancestry (15.4%), and residents who report English roots (12.2%), and some of the residents are also of Italian ancestry (9.4%), along with some Scottish ancestry residents (4.8%), among others.
How you get to work – car, bus, train or other means – and how much of your day it takes to do so is a large quality of life and financial issue. Especially with gasoline prices rising and expected to continue doing so, the length and means of one's commute can be a financial burden. Some neighborhoods are physically located so that many residents have to drive in their own car, others are set up so many walk to work, or can take a train, bus, or bike. The greatest number of commuters in neighborhood spend between 15 and 30 minutes commuting one-way to work (33.5% of working residents), which is shorter than the time spent commuting to work for most Americans.
Here most residents (74.5%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.