Emerald Coast and Families (New Bern, Morehead City: homes, neighborhoods, colleges)

[bande1102]

I've been reading the posts about New Bern, Swansboro, and Beaufort and wondered if these areas are more for retirees or families raising children? I'm thinking in terms of year-round living as opposed to vacations. Can anyone give me an idea of the demographics?

Thanks!

[lovesMountains]

Originally Posted by bande1102

I've been reading the posts about New Bern, Swansboro, and Beaufort and wondered if these areas are more for retirees or families raising children? I'm thinking in terms of year-round living as opposed to vacations. Can anyone give me an idea of the demographics?

Thanks!

Send a pm to our poster dsobotta - he is a wealth of info on this area

[dsobotta]

We live in Cape Carteret and I know a fair amount about the area from Swansboro through Beaufort. It is a year around area with a good representation of young families and retirees.

I do think some neighborhoods have more kids than others and some have more older folks. As you get closer to the beach, it is a little more challenging to find a neighborhood where most of the people are around all of the time. Though I find Emerald Isle has far more year around residents than most beach communities so again it varies by neighborhood.

Most neighborhoods have some homes which families have bought as a second home. Sometimes, mom and the kids have moved here and dad is still working back in the big city. Other times they have made the break and are down here all the time.

Though there may be more, I only know of one over 55 only community and that's the Villages at Swansboro.

There are nine or ten young children in our subdivision of approximately 25 homes, but I know we have a new family moving in with two more young children. The subdivision across the road has far more children. The ice cream truck seems to make their area a regular stop.

Moderator cut: linking to competitors sites is not allowed

The demographics vary widely by community.
Newport is the default area for the western end of Carteret County, so if you don't fall into one of the small towns, you end up in Newport which stretches all the way to Route 70 over near Morehead City, a distance of nearly twenty miles.

You might check out some of the pictures of festivals that I have captured. In a very unscientific way, my guess is that what the area lacks most as a demographic is college age kids, but I think that is normal given we don't have any major colleges in the area.


Emerald Isle Saint Patrick's Day festival

Newport Pig Cook Off festival

Swansboro Oyster Roast festival

I'll be glad to try to answer other questions. You can communicate directly with me at dsobotta@coastalnc.org .

You can also visit my site Coastal Paradise for more information.

There are area pictures at my Picasa Web Albums site

Good luck finding a spot that fits your needs. Let me know if I can help.

[dsobotta]

Forgot The Swansboro Oyster Roast url

[bande1102]

Thank you so much! Great pictures! By the way, I think my title shoulda read Crystal Coast, eh? And its Emerald Isle? Somehow I've missed that whole stretch of NC on my travels up and down the coast. We usually seem to land in the Outer Banks and then Myrtle Beach, SC. Thanks, again.

[Bill Hitchcock]

The "Crystal Coast" is very diverse, with half of our beaches running north/south-The other run east to west. It is composed of 1064 square miles with half of that being water. The Crystal Coast has 82 miles of ocean beaches.
A great web site to stay informed of all of the news and events along coastal North Carolina: http://www.nccoastalnews.com (broken link)