Surf City is a town in Onslow and Pender counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina. The population was 3,867 at the 2020 census. It is located on Topsail Island.
The Pender County portion of Surf City is part of the Wilmington, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area, while the Onslow County portion is part of the Jacksonville, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, Surf City has a total area of 5.3 square miles (13.7 km), of which 4.2 square miles (10.9 km) is land and 1.1 square miles (2.8 km) (20.45%) is water.
Climate
Demographics
2020 census
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:right"
|+Surf City racial composition
!scope="col"| Race
!scope="col"| Number
!scope="col"| Percentage
|-
!scope="row"| White (non-Hispanic)
| 3,337
| 86.29%
|-
!scope="row"| Black or African American (non-Hispanic)
| 42
| 1.09%
|-
!scope="row"| Native American
| 8
| 0.21%
|-
!scope="row"| Asian
| 46
| 1.19%
|-
!scope="row"| Pacific Islander
| 2
| 0.05%
|-
!scope="row"| Other/Mixed
| 221
| 5.72%
|-
!scope="row"| Hispanic or Latino
| 211
| 5.46%
|}
As of the 2020 census, Surf City had a population of 3,867. The median age was 41.8 years. 23.0% of residents were under the age of 18 and 18.5% were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females, there were 97.6 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 94.9 males.
There were 1,531 households in Surf City, including 870 families. Of all households, 32.1% had children under the age of 18 living in them, 59.5% were married-couple households, 14.2% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 20.6% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 22.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. Planning for a replacement bridge began in 2010, with construction beginning in September 2016. It opened in December 2018, a year ahead of schedule. Costing US$54 million, the fixed-span high rise bridge, with a vertical clearance of , allows the passage of vessels at any time and eases traffic flow to and from the community. The wide bridge provides two lanes for traffic, shoulder bicycle lanes, and a multi-use path. The unusually wide design is intended to permit three lanes for hurricane evacuations. The contractor was scheduled to remove the old bridge by March 31, 2019. In a letter to residents in January, the Town's mayor, Doug Medlin said, "NCDOT and Balfour Beatty understood the sentimental relationship that the Town of Surf City had for our Swing Bridge. We were given the turn bridge control panel and key as well as the cornerstone from when the bridge was first constructed. These items will be displayed in the new Surf City Town Hall as a historical memorial."
thumb|Surf City NC High Rise Bridge, as seen from the Soundside Park