Waves, North Carolina.
. Kill Devil Hills, NC metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$964 (+124%) since Jan 2020.
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.
- North Carolina$1,743
- United States$1,922
Living in Waves, Dare County, North Carolina
Waves, in Dare County, had 172 people in the 2020 census. Unemployment in Dare County was 2.9% in August 2026, and the county had 1.8% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most people in Dare County work in schools and health care, then restaurants and hotels.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Waves is a very small community on Hatteras Island in Dare County, North Carolina, with a population that skews much older than the typical American town. Winters are mild and cool rather than harsh, and summers are warm, with a good deal of rain and melted snow across the year.
Work. Residents work mostly in schools, hospitals and social care, in restaurants, hotels and entertainment, in professional and business services, and in shops. Across Dare County, the largest workplaces include Dare County Schools, THE Outer Banks Hospital and Walmart. Unemployment in the county is low and has eased slightly from a year earlier, and the county has added jobs over the past year.
Things to do. Chicamacomico Life-Saving Station, a museum, is in or beside town. Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge, a protected area, is a short drive away. A longer drive brings you to Cape Hatteras National Seashore, a protected area with beaches along the island.
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What people in Dare County work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Dare County had 20,728 jobs in 2025, 1.8% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 54° and lows near 40°; warmest in July, with highs near 87° and lows near 75°. About 62 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Frisco 2NNE weather station, 23 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Dare County
- Dare CountyGeneral public administration870
- Dare County SchoolsSchool district786FTE
- THE Outer Banks HospitalCritical access hospital324FTE
- WalmartWarehouse clubs and supercenters231
- TargetDiscount department stores167
- Lowe's Companies, INCHomecenter126
- Publix Super MarketsSupermarkets and other grocery stores110
- Spring Arbor ManagementAssisted-living facilities without on-site nursing care facilities95
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 32 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 3,437 people in all across the county; Waves has none of its own. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24) and hospitals from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- HurricanesVery high
- Coastal floodingVery high
- LightningVery high
- Winter weatherVery high
- WildfireRelatively moderate
- Inland floodingRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Waves’ census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, very high. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on Dare County and the Kill Devil Hills, NC metro.
Waves home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
Not enough data to draw this yet.
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 4 Waves listings — the market is roughly in balance.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Share of listings with a price cut
The early-warning dial: sellers cut when buyers stop reaching. Rising cuts cool a market months before prices notice.
Not enough data to draw this yet.
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Waves19
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Waves5
Zip codes with a Waves address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Waves — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.
Zillow publishes no zip-level series with this city on the address.