Living in Supply means a quiet, unincorporated stretch of Brunswick County about 14 minutes from the Holden Beach bridge and 38 minutes from downtown Wilmington, where most homes sit on septic and the median asking price runs well below the county figure. The trade is real: you get beach access and lower prices, and you accept weak school performance grades, no town government, and an insurance territory that has taken two approved rate increases in two years.
Supply is not a town. The Census Bureau’s 2023 Gazetteer of North Carolina places does not list it, so it has no official population and no municipal government. What people call Supply is the ZIP 28462 area along Holden Beach Road and Stone Chimney Road, and that ZIP also covers Holden Beach and part of Varnamtown. Within it the population is 12,340, the median household income is $60,349, and the median age is 55.4 American Community Survey 2020-2024.
That median age is the thing to notice first. Supply skews older and seasonal. Of 11,775 housing units in the ZIP, 4,990 are vacant for seasonal or occasional use and 5,008 are mobile homes American Community Survey 2020-2024. If you are picturing a subdivision with sidewalks and a clubhouse, that is not most of Supply. What it has instead is the Lockwood Folly River: an 18-hole course at Lockwood Folly Country Club, 19 Clubhouse Drive SW, the Sunset Harbor state boat ramp, and seafood counters like Holden Beach Seafood at 2224 Holden Beach Road SW. Our Supply neighborhood guide walks the parcel data in more detail.
What do homes actually cost in Supply?
On October 1, 2026 there were 325 active listings with a Supply 28462 address. Across the 206 priced residential listings the range ran from $80,000 to $4,200,000, the median list price was $316,870, and the median days on market was 83. The mix was 164 single-family homes, 118 lots, 41 manufactured homes and 2 townhouses Coldwell Banker Supply search, October 1, 2026.
Compare that to the county, where the median sale price was $409,000 for the three months ending August 2026 and days on market was 98 against 67 a year earlier Redfin, August 2026. Supply asks less because of what is in the inventory, not because it is a discounted version of Leland or St. James. You can see the full county picture on our Brunswick County market update.
The spread inside Supply is wide. The lowest-priced listing on that date was a 648 square foot manufactured home on Sea Wind Court SW, while the five highest asks, $1,895,000 to $4,200,000, were all on waterfront streets off the Lockwood Folly River. Waterfront and non-waterfront Supply are two markets sharing a ZIP code.
- Owner-reported median value, ZIP 28462: $253,000, plus or minus $21,877 American Community Survey 2020-2024
- County property tax rate: $0.342 per $100 of value, with no municipal rate in unincorporated Supply Brunswick County tax rates table, tax year 2026
- Seasonal or occasional-use housing units in ZIP 28462: 4,990 of 11,775 American Community Survey 2020-2024
At that rate a home valued at $253,000 carries a county bill of about $865 a year, and one at $316,870 about $1,084. Those are our own calculations from the published rate, and they leave out the separate fire fee that Brunswick County bills under 2017 special legislation and does not put on the rates table. Ask the county for the current fire fee on the parcel. The next countywide revaluation is scheduled for 2027, so the value your bill rests on will change.
How long is the drive to anything?
Supply works if your daily life happens in Brunswick County and your beach day happens at Holden Beach. It does not work well as a Wilmington commute.
Approximate driving distances and times from the Supply crossroads OpenStreetMap routing, October 1, 2026: Shallotte for groceries, 7 miles and 13 minutes. The Holden Beach bridge, 9 miles and 14 minutes. Novant Health Brunswick Medical Center in Bolivia, the nearest hospital, 9 miles and 13 minutes. Southport, 17 miles and 25 minutes. Downtown Wilmington, 27 miles and 38 minutes. ILM airport, 33 miles and 51 minutes. Summer beach traffic adds to all of it, especially the Holden Beach Road corridor on a Saturday morning.
One NCDOT project matters most here. R-5021 is widening 7.2 miles of NC 211 from NC 87 to NC 906, under construction since January 2022 and scheduled for completion in spring 2026. Check its current status before you trust a drive time, because NC 211 is the artery. For the services Supply does not have, our Shallotte guide covers the town 13 minutes up the road.
Schools, septic and water: the three things buyers miss
Brunswick County Schools serve the area and elementary assignment is split. Most Supply addresses we tested feed Supply Elementary, including Van Buren Street SW, Ginters Park Road NW and Seashore Road SW. Addresses along the Holden Beach Road and Turkey Trap Road corridor feed Virginia Williamson Elementary. Every address we tested fed Cedar Grove Middle and West Brunswick High Brunswick County Schools Edulog WebQuery, October 1, 2026. Assignment can change, so confirm a specific address with the district.
The performance data is the honest part. Supply Elementary carries a School Performance Grade of D, did not meet growth, and appears on the continually low-performing list for 2023-24 through 2025-26 NCDPI 2025-26 Low-Performing State Designations. On the 2025-26 growth file, Supply Elementary scored -3.03, Virginia Williamson -5.44 and West Brunswick High -4.83, all not meeting growth. Cedar Grove Middle scored -1.35 and did meet growth. We tell families with young children to visit in person and weigh this against what else Supply offers.
Septic is the default, not the exception
Brunswick County’s Rural Sewer Program guidelines, revised July 2024, state that a collection system “is not available in many areas of the county.” Outside platted subdivisions, septic is the norm in Supply, and a property without public water needs a well permit application filed alongside the septic application with county Environmental Health. That changes your due diligence timeline and your inspection list, and we raise it before you write an offer rather than after.
Water supply is under stress right now
Brunswick County has had a Stage 1 voluntary conservation alert posted since August 31, 2026, and as of October 1, 2026 the alert, an extreme drought designation and a burn ban were all still in effect. Meanwhile the county’s Northwest Water Treatment Plant is expanding from 24 to 48 million gallons per day and adding reverse osmosis for PFAS. On a well, the drought is yours to manage. On county water, that expansion is part of why your rates are what they are.
Flood and insurance: what you are signing up for
Supply is better on flood than most people expect and worse on insurance than they hope. We mapped six points against the FEMA National Flood Hazard Layer on October 1, 2026. The crossroads, Stone Chimney Road, the Holden Beach Road corridor and the Lockwood Folly east bank all came back Zone X, minimal flood hazard. Two Intracoastal Waterway points, at the country club and at Hewett Landing, came back Zone AE with a base flood elevation of 11 feet. Zone X does not mean no water. It means no federal mandatory purchase requirement, and that distinction matters before you skip a policy. Our flood zones and flood insurance guide explains how to read your own address.
Insurance is the harder number. ZIP 28462 sits in Territory 140 under the North Carolina Rate Bureau territory definitions, and that territory has taken two approved homeowners increases: 10.5 percent effective June 1, 2025 and 10.1 percent effective June 1, 2026. The Bureau had originally requested 71.4 percent for January 2025 before the Insurance Commissioner’s settlement. The beach side is worse. Beach Territory 120, covering Holden Beach and Oak Island, took 16 percent and then 15.9 percent after a 99.4 percent request. Dwelling policies on rentals and second homes take 5 percent on October 1, 2026 and another 5 percent a year later NC Rate Bureau, as cited in our Supply guide. Our coastal NC homeowners insurance guide covers how wind and hurricane deductibles work.
Supply is the wrong answer for two kinds of buyers. If you need a daily Wilmington commute, 38 minutes each way on a corridor under active widening is a real cost, and Leland or Belville will serve you better. If your decision rests on elementary school performance, the published grades and growth scores here are weak enough that we would rather tell you now than have you find out in July. We also cannot give you HOA answers for Supply as a whole, because there is no single association and the published data does not include dues for the subdivisions that have one. On short-term rentals, Supply has no town ordinance and the county’s Unified Development Ordinance use table lists bed and breakfast but no separate short-term rental use. Confirm with Brunswick County Planning before you buy on a rental projection.
Related questions people also ask
Is Supply, NC a safe place to live?
Supply is unincorporated, so it has no municipal police department and is patrolled by the Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office rather than a town force. Response times therefore depend on where a deputy is when you call, which is normal for rural coastal North Carolina. We do not publish crime statistics for Supply because the area has no official boundary, and reported figures get aggregated to the county or the ZIP, which mixes Supply with Holden Beach seasonal population. Ask the Sheriff’s Office about the specific road you are considering.
How far is Supply, NC from the beach?
The Holden Beach bridge is about 9 miles and 14 minutes from the Supply crossroads by road, based on OpenStreetMap routing measured in October 2026. Once you cross it you are on the island, so a realistic door-to-sand time from most Supply addresses is 20 to 25 minutes in the off season by our own estimate. Summer weekend traffic on Holden Beach Road adds meaningfully to that, and the bridge is the single point of access. If beach proximity is the whole reason you are moving, compare Supply against Oak Island and Holden Beach itself.
Can you get public sewer in Supply, NC?
In some places, but you cannot assume it. Brunswick County’s own Rural Sewer Program guidelines, revised July 2024, say a collection system is not available in many areas of the county, and septic is the norm for Supply properties outside platted subdivisions. Whether a parcel has county sewer, county water, a well or a septic system is a question to answer in writing before your due diligence period ends. A property with no public water also needs a well permit application filed with county Environmental Health.
Pick three specific roads in Supply you could see yourself on, and we will pull the flood zone, school assignment, tax parcel and water and sewer status on each one before you spend a Saturday driving down here. That one page of facts tells you whether Supply is your answer or whether Shallotte or Oak Island fits better. Schedule a consultation and we will put it together with you.
Sources: Coldwell Banker Supply NC search, October 1, 2026. Redfin, Brunswick County, three months ending August 2026. American Community Survey 2020-2024, ZIP 28462. Brunswick County tax rates table, tax year 2026. U.S. Census Bureau 2023 Gazetteer of North Carolina places. Brunswick County Schools Edulog WebQuery, October 1, 2026. NCDPI 2025-26 Low-Performing State Designations and 2025-26 growth file. FEMA National Flood Hazard Layer, October 1, 2026. North Carolina Rate Bureau territory definitions and approved rate changes. OpenStreetMap routing, October 1, 2026. NCDOT projects R-5021 and U-5932. Brunswick County Rural Sewer Program guidelines, revised July 2024. Brunswick County conservation alert status, October 1, 2026.
