Zip lookup · NC

28428
Carolina Beach, North Carolina.

Carolina Beach, New Hanover County, NC · Wilmington, NC metro · population 7,136

What it costs per month · 28428 $3,158/mo

to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$1,865 (+144%) since Jan 2020.

What the home itself did
1 year
Up $10,454 +2%
$591,195$601,649 since Sep 2025
5 years
Up $109,790 +22%
$491,860$601,649 since Sep 2021

Monthly payment to buy the typical home

Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.

$1,000 $2,000 $3,000 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 2026 28428 $3,158 United States $1,922
$1,000 $2,000 $3,000 2002 2010 2018 2026
  • 28428$3,158
  • United States$1,922

At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 17 years.

Typical home values in zip 28428 rose 1.8% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.

Asking rents in zip 28428 rose 3.4% over the past year — faster than the nation's +2.7%.

Owning the typical home in zip 28428 runs $1,749/mo more than renting one. The gap peaked at $1,851 in Jun 2025.

That is $4,074 a month against $2,325 rent: a $3,158 mortgage payment, plus $272 property tax and $644 insurance & upkeep.

Owning vs renting — zip 28428

The owning line is the typical home's monthly payment at that month's rate, plus property tax and insurance & upkeep; the renting line is the typical asking rent; the grey line is the mortgage payment on its own. Same homes, same months, both ways of paying for a roof.

$2,500 $3,000 $3,500 $4,000 2025 2026 Owning all in $4,074 Renting $2,325 Mortgage only $3,158
$2,500 $3,000 $3,500 $4,000 2025 2026
  • Owning all in$4,074
  • Renting$2,325
  • Mortgage only$3,158

Property tax · $272/mo 0.54% of value a year — the ACS 2020-2024 median bill over the median home value for New Hanover County, NC

Insurance & upkeep · $644/mo insurance, maintenance and repairs together, from the BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey — the national figure for mortgaged homeowners, scaled to this market's home value. BLS publishes the three bundled and they cannot be split.

Both are priced off the same month's home value, so they rise with the market. Neither is a quote — a specific home's bill depends on its assessment, its age and its insurer.

Zillow also publishes an index for the city itself: Carolina Beach, NC — measured over the city limits, which is a different area from this zip.

Asking rent $2,325 as of Sep 2026
+3.4%year on year
Typical home value $601,649 as of Sep 2026
+1.8%year on year

Asking rent — 28428

Against the Wilmington, NC metro and the national benchmark.

$1,750 $2,000 $2,250 2025 2026 28428 $2,325 Wilmington $1,744 United States $1,932
$1,750 $2,000 $2,250 2025 2026
  • 28428$2,325
  • Wilmington$1,744
  • United States$1,932

Typical home value — 28428

Mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.

$200,000 $400,000 $600,000 2018 2020 2022 2024 2026 28428 $601,649 Wilmington $443,118 United States $366,157
$200,000 $400,000 $600,000 2018 2022 2026
  • 28428$601,649
  • Wilmington$443,118
  • United States$366,157

Within 20 miles

Miles sorted ascending, activate to sort descending Zip activate to sort by Zip City activate to sort by City Population activate to sort by Population Rent activate to sort by Rent Home value activate to sort by Home value
4.1 28449 Kure Beach 2,131 — $746,152
6.6 28412 Wilmington 44,166 $1,562 $391,083
7.3 28479 Winnabow 6,581 $2,158 $361,508
8.2 28409 Wilmington 36,163 $2,201 $510,348
9.1 28461 Southport 23,762 $1,688 $514,522
12.8 28403 Wilmington 40,319 $1,715 $392,554
13.8 28480 Wrightsville Beach 2,776 $1,950 $1,751,717
14.0 28465 Oak Island 8,756 $2,094 $604,385
15.7 28405 Wilmington 35,467 $1,735 $373,114
16.9 28422 Bolivia 10,059 $2,171 $332,921
17.8 28401 Wilmington 22,007 $1,741 $326,327
17.9 28451 Leland 46,933 $1,658 $374,443
19.3 28411 Wilmington 37,233 $1,864 $465,558

Coordinates and population from SimpleMaps US Zips (Basic). Rent and home values from Zillow Research.