For most of the retirees we work with, yes. Leland gives you new single-level housing, a combined property tax rate of 0.592 per $100 of value, a ten-minute drive to downtown Wilmington and a county where 35.6% of residents are already 65 or older. The honest catch is healthcare: the hospital approved for Leland has not been built, so today your nearest emergency room is seventeen miles down U.S. 17 in Bolivia or across the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge in Wilmington.
Leland is the biggest town in Brunswick County and the fastest-changing address in the region. The Town of Leland puts its certified population at 33,065, up 44.33% from 22,908 in 2020. That growth is mostly new houses, which is the main reason it keeps showing up on retirement lists: the housing stock is new, the lots are flat, and a large share of what gets built is a single-story ranch with a two-car garage.
We tell retiring buyers to test three things: the carrying cost, how far the care they will need in fifteen years sits from the front door, and whether they can live in a town still under construction. Leland does well on the first and poorly on the second right now.
Why Brunswick County already works like a retirement county
This is not a town trying to attract retirees. It already has them. The Census Bureau’s 2024 one-year American Community Survey puts the median age in Brunswick County at 57.6 years against 39.4 for North Carolina as a whole, and 59,547 of the county’s 167,112 residents are 65 or older. That is 35.6% of the county. New Hanover County next door sits at a median age of 39.9.
What that means in practice is infrastructure built for the age group rather than around it. Brunswick Senior Resources runs five senior centers in the county, one in each district, and the Brunswick Center at Leland sits at 121 Town Hall Drive, next door to Founders Park. The centers run congregate meals, health screenings, exercise classes and transportation to programs.
Del Webb is building a 55-plus community here. Port City Daily reported on June 11, 2024 that Del Webb at Mallory Creek would put 750 or more homesites on 300 acres off River Road, with ranch homes from roughly 1,200 to 3,400 square feet, a 20,000-square-foot clubhouse, indoor and outdoor pools, a fitness center and pickleball courts. Prices and availability have moved since that announcement, so treat the 2024 figures as history rather than a quote.
Outside the age-restricted gates, the amenity list is the same one that pulls everyone else to Leland: Cape Fear National inside Brunswick Forest, the 27 holes at Magnolia Greens Golf Club, and the six indoor courts at House of Pickleball on Kay Todd Road. Our Leland community guide walks through the rest of the town, and we compare the three biggest communities in Brunswick Forest, Compass Pointe or Magnolia Greens.
- Brunswick County median age 57.6, against 39.4 statewide U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 one-year estimates
- 59,547 of 167,112 Brunswick County residents are 65 or older, or 35.6% U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024 one-year estimates, table B01001
- Brunswick County property tax 0.342 per $100 plus Town of Leland 0.25, a combined 0.592 Brunswick County Tax Office rate table, 2026 column, read October 5, 2026
- Brunswick County median sale price $409,000, up 2.2% year over year, with a 98-day median time on market Our Brunswick County market update, three months ending August 2026
- Town of Leland certified population 33,065, up 44.33% from 22,908 in 2020 Town of Leland community profile, read September 2026
What it actually costs to carry a house here
Start with the tax bill, because it is the number people from higher-tax states find hardest to believe. Inside Leland town limits you pay the Brunswick County rate of 0.342 per $100 plus the town rate of 0.25, for a combined 0.592 (Brunswick County Tax Office rate table, 2026 column, read October 5, 2026). On a home assessed at the $409,000 median sale price in our Brunswick County market update, that is about $2,421 a year. On a $450,000 house it is about $2,664.
North Carolina does not tax Social Security or Railroad Retirement benefits, and the state individual income tax rate for 2026 is a flat 3.99% (NC Department of Revenue). If you are income-qualified, the elderly or disabled exclusion takes the greater of $25,000 or 50% of the appraised value off the tax bill, and for 2026 the income limit is $38,800, with the circuit breaker deferral available up to $58,200 (NC Department of Revenue memorandum, June 27, 2025, and the Brunswick County Tax Office property tax relief page).
Insurance is where the coast normally punishes you, and Leland is the part of the coast where it punishes you least. Under the settlement the NC Department of Insurance signed with the Rate Bureau on January 17, 2025, Leland’s ZIP codes 28451 and 28479 fall in territory 160, the western coastal area, which took a 5% base rate increase on June 1, 2025 and 4.8% on June 1, 2026. The beach territory covering Oak Island, Holden Beach and the barrier islands took 16% and then 15.9%. The Rate Bureau had asked for 99.4% on the beach and 43% on the western side. We go through the deductible structure in our coastal homeowners insurance guide.
What we cannot give you from a desk is the HOA number. Brunswick Forest, Compass Pointe, Magnolia Greens, Waterford and Mallory Creek each carry their own dues, and some add a separate club membership on top. We pull the budget and the reserve study before our clients sign.
The healthcare gap, and when it closes
This is the question that should decide Leland for you, and it has a real answer. On March 30, 2026, Novant Health announced that the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services had approved a 20-bed hospital near U.S. 74/76 in Leland, close to Compass Pointe, with a 24/7 emergency department, imaging, ten observation beds and five procedure rooms. The same approval covers a freestanding emergency department in Carolina Shores, and Novant said it would open an ambulatory surgery center in the Leland area during 2026.
Novant did not publish a construction start or an opening date. State approval is the beginning of a hospital project, not the end of one, so plan your next several years around what exists now.
What exists now is Novant Health Brunswick Medical Center at 240 Hospital Drive NE in Bolivia, about seventeen miles south of Leland on U.S. 17, roughly a 22-minute drive without traffic. The larger option is across the river in Wilmington, which means the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge. NCDOT calls that 1969 lift span functionally obsolete and has it funded for replacement as project HB-0039, with a $242 million federal grant awarded in 2024 against a $1.1 billion estimate. Lift openings and maintenance make the trip unpredictable. If a cardiology appointment in Wilmington is going to be a monthly event, drive that bridge at 8 a.m. on a Tuesday before you buy anything.
Who should look somewhere else
If you want a finished neighborhood with mature trees and a walkable downtown, Leland is the wrong town and we will say so on the first call. Southport has the historic waterfront and Dosher Memorial Hospital inside the city; we wrote about that trade in whether Southport is a good place to retire. If you want to be able to walk to a restaurant, Leland is not that yet, and most residents treat downtown Wilmington as their dining district.
Brunswick County is the slowest-moving market of the three counties we serve, at a 98-day median time on market for the three months ending August 2026 against 67 days a year earlier, with roughly 2,250 active listings. That is good news when you are buying and bad news later, when you or your family need to sell. Retirement buyers often have a second sale ahead of them, whether it is a move to assisted living or an estate sale, and a three-month marketing time is the planning assumption here, not six weeks. The other complication is new construction: 227 of the 498 active Leland listings we counted on September 22, 2026 were new builds, which means your resale competition in five years will be a builder with incentives you cannot match. Buy the lot and the floor plan that will still be scarce then, not the one that is being poured forty more times down the street.
Related questions people also ask
Is Leland cheaper than Wilmington?
On the tax line, yes. A home inside Leland town limits is taxed at a combined 0.592 per $100 of value, counting the Brunswick County rate of 0.342 and the town rate of 0.25, according to the Brunswick County Tax Office rate table read on October 5, 2026. A home inside the Wilmington city limits pays the New Hanover County rate of 30.6 cents plus the city rate of 33.15 cents, a combined 63.75 cents per $100, per the New Hanover County property tax bill notice of July 10, 2026. Sale prices differ too, with a Brunswick County median of $409,000 against $448,000 in New Hanover for the three months ending August 2026.
Does North Carolina tax retirement income?
North Carolina does not tax Social Security or Railroad Retirement benefits, according to the NC Department of Revenue. Other retirement income, including most pension and traditional IRA withdrawals, is taxed at the state’s flat individual income tax rate, which is 3.99% for 2026. Military retirement pay and certain government pensions covered by the Bailey settlement are treated differently. We are not tax advisors, so run your own situation past a CPA before you make a move based on it.
Where is the nearest hospital to Leland NC?
Novant Health Brunswick Medical Center at 240 Hospital Drive NE in Bolivia is the closest hospital, about seventeen miles south of Leland on U.S. 17. The larger facilities are in Wilmington, which means crossing the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge. Novant Health announced on March 30, 2026 that the state had approved a 20-bed hospital with a 24/7 emergency department near U.S. 74/76 in Leland, though no construction start or opening date has been published.
Pick two Leland communities you are drawn to and ask for their current HOA budget, reserve study and any separate club dues before you tour a single house. That one document set separates the communities more than the model homes do. Send us the two names and we will pull the paperwork, run the tax and insurance math on a real address, and tell you honestly if a different town fits you better.
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 one-year estimates, tables B01002 and B01001, read October 5, 2026. Brunswick County Tax Office tax rate table, 2026 column, read October 5, 2026. Brunswick County senior centers directory and Brunswick Senior Resources, read October 5, 2026. Port City Daily, “New Del Webb neighborhood coming to Leland,” June 11, 2024. Novant Health newsroom release, March 30, 2026, on state approval of a Leland hospital and a Carolina Shores emergency department. NC Department of Insurance, 2024 Proposed Homeowners Insurance Increase Settlement table, January 17, 2025, territories 120 and 160. NC Department of Revenue individual income tax rate schedules and Social Security filing guidance; NC Department of Revenue memorandum, “Income Eligibility Limit, 2026 Property Tax Relief Programs,” June 27, 2025. New Hanover County property tax bill notice, July 10, 2026, via Port City Daily. NCDOT Cape Fear Memorial Bridge replacement project HB-0039. Town of Leland community profile. Our Leland community guide and our Brunswick County market update, Redfin data for the three months ending August 2026.
