Ash works for retirees who want acreage, the county’s base tax rate with no municipal line, flood maps that mostly read Zone X, and the ocean about half an hour away. It does not work if you need a hospital close by, a walkable street, or a short drive to a specialist, because the nearest hospital is a 30-minute trip and Wilmington is more than an hour.
Ash is not a town. It is an unincorporated community in western Brunswick County that shares one ZIP code, 28420, with a lot of farm, pine and swamp. The Census Bureau’s 2020 ZIP code tabulation area file puts 28420 at 171.1 square miles, and the American Community Survey for 2020 to 2024 counts 2,658 people inside it, which is roughly 16 people per square mile. There is no mayor, no town hall and no municipal tax rate.
There are really two Ashes, and retirees land in both. One is the older rural stock: 1,513 housing units in that same survey, 813 single-family detached and 665 mobile homes, median value $198,100. The other is the builder corridor between Longwood Road and the Calabash line, where the Ash-addressed communities now include McLamb Farms, Sterling Oaks, Rich Square at Brunswick Plantation and Rivergate. Our Ash community guide walks the data behind both.
What does retiring in Ash actually cost?
Your property tax bill has one line. Brunswick County bills 0.342 per $100 of assessed value for tax year 2026, and because Ash is unincorporated there is no municipal rate on top. On our own arithmetic, the survey’s median value for the ZIP, $198,100, carries a county bill of about $678 a year, and a new build asking $388,765, the median active asking price in Ash on October 4, 2026, carries about $1,330. The county also bills a separate fire fee under 2017 special legislation that does not appear on the rates table, so ask the county what the fee is on the specific parcel.
Association dues are the line that surprises people, because they vary more inside Ash than the price per square foot does. From listing records read October 4, 2026: McLamb Farms $108 a month, Rich Square at Brunswick Plantation $98 a month, Sterling Oaks and the Brunswick Plantation sections $1,176 a year, and Rivergate $25. Read the documents, not the listing field, and ask what the dues cover and what the reserve looks like.
- ZIP 28420 covers 171.1 square miles with 2,658 people Census Bureau 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas and American Community Survey 2020 to 2024
- Brunswick County property tax rate 0.342 per $100, no municipal rate in Ash Brunswick County tax rates table, tax year 2026
- 70 active listings with Ash addresses; the 55 active houses and townhomes ran $220,000 to $879,000, median asking price $388,765, with 33 of the 55 flagged new construction Coldwell Banker Ash city page, read October 4, 2026
- Brunswick County median sale price $394,000, up 3.7 percent year over year, 93 days on market against 64 a year earlier, with 2,334 active listings countywide Our Brunswick County market update, three months ending September 2026
- Elderly or Disabled Homestead Exclusion income limit for 2026: $38,800, with the circuit breaker program at $58,200 North Carolina Department of Revenue memorandum to county assessors, June 27, 2025
- 30-year fixed mortgage rate 7.40 percent Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey, week ending October 15, 2026
On state taxes, North Carolina helps with some retirement income and not the rest. The income tax is a flat 3.99 percent for taxable years after 2025, Social Security is effectively untaxed because the taxable portion is deducted back out on the state return, and pension and IRA withdrawals are taxed unless you are a vested government retiree covered by the Bailey settlement, per the Tax Foundation’s 2026 state tax pages read October 18, 2026. If you plan to live on IRA withdrawals, run that 3.99 percent before you celebrate the property tax bill.
How far is the hospital, and everything else?
This is the question that decides it for most retirees, so here are the drives, routed from the Ash crossroads on October 4, 2026. Novant Health Brunswick Medical Center in Bolivia, the nearest hospital, is 20.7 miles. Shallotte, where Ash does its shopping, is 15.0 miles and about 27 minutes. Sunset Beach, the closest ocean, is 15.3 miles and roughly 30 minutes, or 11.7 miles from the southern subdivisions. Calabash is 16.3 miles and Ocean Isle Beach 17.6. North Myrtle Beach is 21.1 miles and Myrtle Beach International Airport 39.5, which makes South Carolina the practical airport. Downtown Wilmington is 49.3 miles and about 74 minutes, and Wilmington International Airport is 55.0 miles.
Read that list as a medical schedule rather than a sightseeing list. A cardiology appointment in Wilmington is a two-and-a-half-hour round trip, and the Myrtle Beach specialists who are closer sit in another state, which matters for some referral networks. We tell retirees with an active treatment schedule to look at Leland, Shallotte or Southport instead.
One long-range road project is worth knowing about and worth not pricing in. The NCDOT Carolina Bays Parkway Extension, project R-5876, would carry SC 31 across the state line to US 17 at an estimated $797 million, and the project page updated January 16, 2026 says right of way acquisition on the North Carolina side is not funded.
What does a week here look like?
Quieter than most people expect, with one real anchor. The Brunswick Center at Waccamaw sits at 5841 Waccamaw School Road NW in Ash, open Monday through Friday from 8:00am to 4:00pm with lunch served at 11:30am, run by Brunswick Senior Resources, the county’s senior services nonprofit, which operates six centers countywide including Shallotte, Calabash and Supply. That is read from bsrinc.org on October 19, 2026. For a community with 2,658 people, having a staffed senior center with a daily meal, fitness classes and a weekly activity schedule inside the ZIP code is unusual, and it is the single best answer to the question of who you will know here in year two.
Beyond that, Waccamaw Park beside the school carries ball fields, tennis courts, a playground and a community building, per Brunswick County Parks and Recreation, and Brunswick Plantation Golf Resort at 380 Brunswick Drive NW in Calabash runs 27 holes with a fitness center and pool, which several Ash-addressed subdivisions tie into. The rest of the week is a drive: seafood in Calabash, the beach at Sunset Beach, groceries in Shallotte.
Flood, insurance and the sewer line going in
Flood exposure here is better than most of coastal Brunswick County, and it is not uniform. Querying the FEMA National Flood Hazard Layer on October 4, 2026, every active subdivision we checked returned Zone X, an area of minimal hazard, including Sterling Oaks, Whaley Way, Generations Circle and Lewis Allen Crossing. Rivergate returned Zone AE, a Special Flood Hazard Area, and that is where the cheapest land in Ash is listed. Across a 31-point grid spanning the ZIP, 16 of the 26 points returning a mapped polygon were in an A or AE zone, concentrated in the swamp and river country. Pull the determination on the parcel anyway.
Insurance still costs coastal money, just less of it than the beach. Under the rate settlement announced in January 2025, beach areas of Brunswick County took 16 percent on June 1, 2025 and 15.9 percent on June 1, 2026, while the western coastal areas where Ash sits took 5 percent and 4.8 percent. Expect a separate named storm or wind and hail deductible set as a percentage of your dwelling coverage, which our guide to coastal homeowners insurance explains, because that is the number that bites after a storm.
Most of Ash has never had public sewer. Brunswick County’s Longwood Road Special Sewer Connection Program is laying a line from Waccamaw School to the force main at Highway 17, funded primarily by the NC DEQ DWI-ARPA program at $14,956,200, with eligible owners mailed letters in November 2025 and construction scheduled to finish by December 31, 2026. Off that route, assume septic and a well or county water, and budget for a septic inspection during due diligence.
The honest drawback is medical distance, and it gets worse with age rather than better. A 20.7-mile drive to the hospital is manageable at 65 and a different proposition at 82, and the plan of driving yourself is the plan most likely to fail. The second is valuation: the survey’s median value for the ZIP is $198,100 while the median asking price on active houses is $388,765, and those numbers describe different housing. If you buy new, do not expect older sales nearby to support your price on a resale, and if you plan to sell to fund care, that gap is the risk. Brunswick County’s next revaluation also takes effect in 2027, so the assessed value your rate sits on will reset.
Related questions people also ask
Is there a hospital near Ash, NC?
The nearest hospital is Novant Health Brunswick Medical Center in Bolivia, about 20.7 miles from the Ash crossroads by road routing calculated October 4, 2026, which is roughly a 30-minute drive. Hospitals in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina are comparable in distance but across the state line, which can matter for referral networks and some supplemental plans. There is no urgent care or hospital inside the Ash ZIP code itself, so anyone with a frequent treatment schedule should test the drive before buying.
What do HOA dues cost in the Ash subdivisions?
They range widely by community. From listing records read October 4, 2026, McLamb Farms was $108 a month, Rich Square at Brunswick Plantation $98 a month, Sterling Oaks and the Brunswick Plantation sections $1,176 a year, and Rivergate $25. Dues change and listing fields are often out of date, so ask for the current assessment schedule, the budget and the reserve study in writing before due diligence ends.
Does North Carolina tax retirement income?
It taxes some of it. North Carolina applies a flat 3.99 percent individual income tax for taxable years after 2025, Social Security benefits are effectively untaxed because the taxable portion is deducted on the state return, and pension and IRA withdrawals are taxable unless you are a vested government retiree covered by the Bailey settlement, per the Tax Foundation’s 2026 state tax pages read October 18, 2026. Property tax relief for older owners is narrow: the Elderly or Disabled Homestead Exclusion carried a 2026 income limit of $38,800. Most arriving retirees should assume they do not qualify and plan the income tax rather than the exclusion.
Drive the hospital route on a weekday morning, then pull the flood determination and the association documents on the specific address before due diligence ends, and ask the county what the fire fee is on that parcel. If you want help weighing an Ash build against Shallotte, Leland or Southport for the next 20 years rather than the next two, talk it through with our team.
Sources: American Community Survey 2020 to 2024 and Census Bureau 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas, ZIP 28420. Coldwell Banker Ash city page, read October 4, 2026, as published on our Ash community guide. Brunswick County tax rates table, tax year 2026, and the county fire fee under 2017 special legislation. Our Brunswick County market update, three months ending September 2026. North Carolina Department of Revenue memorandum to county assessors, June 27, 2025. Tax Foundation 2026 state tax pages, read October 18, 2026. Road routing from the Ash crossroads, October 4, 2026. NCDOT Carolina Bays Parkway Extension project R-5876 page, updated January 16, 2026. Brunswick Senior Resources, bsrinc.org, read October 19, 2026. Brunswick County Parks and Recreation. FEMA National Flood Hazard Layer, queried October 4, 2026. North Carolina homeowners rate settlement announced January 2025, increases effective June 1, 2025 and June 1, 2026. Brunswick County Longwood Road Special Sewer Connection Program. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey, week ending October 15, 2026.
