Yes, if you want space, water access and a thirteen-minute drive to Carolina Beach more than you want a walkable main street. Myrtle Grove gives you newer housing than most of Wilmington at the unincorporated tax rate of 0.3785 per $100 with no city tax, and the price you pay for it is Monkey Junction traffic with no second way out.
Buyers relocating to Wilmington usually arrive with a mental map of downtown, Wrightsville Beach and Mayfaire, and then somebody tells them to look south. Myrtle Grove is what they find. It is not a town and not a subdivision. The Census Bureau calls it Myrtle Grove CDP: 6.71 square miles and about 12,637 people in unincorporated New Hanover County, running from Carolina Beach Road east to the Intracoastal Waterway.
Almost every address reads Wilmington 28409, so people assume they are buying in the city. They are not, and that single fact is why there is no municipal line on the tax bill. Here is the honest version of what else you are buying.
What you actually get for the money
Sixty recorded subdivisions filled this ground over about forty years, from Tanglewood at 414 lots down to Fawn Valley at 49. The median year built is 1997, which makes Myrtle Grove meaningfully newer than most of Wilmington’s established neighborhoods, and of 5,095 housing units 4,557 are single-family detached (American Community Survey, 2020 to 2024).
Ownership runs deep here. Of 4,854 occupied units, 4,060 are owner-occupied and 794 rented, and median household income is $113,463 in the same survey. On the ground that reads as wide lots, heavy canopy and, on the east side, a line of private docks reaching out across the marsh.
The price spread is the part that surprises people. When we built our Myrtle Grove neighborhood guide, the Coldwell Banker Myrtle Grove page on October 6, 2026 carried 63 active listings, of which 55 houses and townhomes ran from $265,000 to $3,200,000, median asking price $610,000. Townhomes on Winds Ridge Drive and Gantts Trail asked $265,000 and $267,500. A waterfront house on Masonboro Harbour Drive asked $3,200,000. Few places in this county offer that range at one tax rate.
- Population about 12,637 across 6.71 square miles, median year built 1997 U.S. Census Bureau, Myrtle Grove CDP, American Community Survey 2020 to 2024
- 63 active listings, 55 houses and townhomes from $265,000 to $3,200,000, median asking $610,000 Coldwell Banker Myrtle Grove page, read October 6, 2026
- Median value of owner-occupied homes: $439,100 American Community Survey, 2020 to 2024
- Combined property tax rate 0.3785 per $100, with no municipal rate New Hanover County historic tax rates, 2026: county .3020, fire district .0725, debt service .0040
- New Hanover County median sale price $464,000, 61 days on market Redfin county housing-market pages, read October 17, 2026, three months ending September 2026
At that 0.3785 rate, a house at the survey’s median value of $439,100 carries roughly $1,662 a year in county tax, and one bought at $610,000 roughly $2,309. Compare that against a house inside the Wilmington city limits, where a municipal rate sits on top, and the gap is real money every year you own it.
What the schools look like
Three attendance lines cross this neighborhood, so there is no single answer. Sampling 402 points against the district’s 2026 to 2027 boundary layers on October 6, 2026, about 64 percent of elementary points go to H. C. Bellamy Elementary, 24 percent to Edwin A. Anderson Elementary, 5 percent to Masonboro Elementary and 4 percent to Pine Valley Elementary. The northern 45 percent feeds Myrtle Grove Middle and the southern 54 percent feeds Charles P. Murray Middle. About 93 percent feeds Eugene Ashley High.
Here is the good news, and it is genuinely good. On the state’s 2024-25 report cards, Masonboro Elementary earned an A at 90 with growth exceeded at 94.7, Bellamy a B at 81 with growth exceeded at 91.0, and Anderson a B at 77 with growth exceeded at 91.1. Charles P. Murray Middle earned a B at 79, growth exceeded at 87.6. Pine Valley Elementary came in at a C, 68, growth met. Myrtle Grove Middle a C, 66, growth met at 73.5. Eugene Ashley High a C, 66, with growth not met at 53.7.
That is a stronger elementary picture than most of New Hanover County, and in our experience it is the main reason families with young children choose this side of town. The high school is average for the county. Run the exact address through the district locator before you write an offer, because being on the wrong side of a line here changes both the elementary and the middle school.
Getting around, and the one real weakness
Myrtle Grove is closer to the ocean than to the city. By road routing calculated October 6, 2026 from the center of the neighborhood, the Carolina Beach boardwalk is about 6.6 miles and 13 minutes, the Novant Health New Hanover Regional Medical Center main campus about 8.3 miles and 16 minutes, UNCW about 9.5 and 19, and downtown Wilmington about 10.0 miles and 20 minutes. Those are free-flow estimates.
Now the weakness. Carolina Beach Road, US 421, is the spine and the only continuous route north to the city or south to the island. Everything funnels through Monkey Junction, where South College Road ends at it, and when that backs up there is no second way out. We tell every buyer looking here to drive Carolina Beach Road northbound at 5 p.m. on a weekday before deciding.
Relief is funded but not soon. NCDOT’s 2026 to 2035 State Transportation Improvement Program funds project U-5790, which widens US 421 from South College Road to Sanders Road and builds flyovers at the US 421 and NC 132 junction, at $54.5 million, with right of way in 2027 and construction in 2029. Sanders Road is inside the neighborhood, so buy here and you are buying the construction before you get the road.
Flooding, insurance and the dock question
Flood risk here is about which side of the neighborhood you buy. Querying the FEMA National Flood Hazard Layer at 402 points on October 6, 2026, 283 came back Zone X, minimal hazard. Sixty-two came back VE, the coastal high hazard zone where wave action is expected, 38 came back AE, 18 the 0.2 percent annual chance band and one the floodway. Every VE point sat in the eastern third along Masonboro Sound.
West of Masonboro Loop Road it is mostly X. East of it, pull the flood determination and get a written insurance quote before you waive anything, and expect a windstorm deductible set as a percentage of your dwelling coverage rather than a flat dollar amount. Our Wilmington flood zone and flood insurance guide walks through what each zone does to the premium.
On docks, a lot touching water does not come with one. Permits on Masonboro Sound run through the state and the Army Corps, and marsh frontage is not a deeded slip. If a dock is the reason you are buying, verify the existing permit or the permitability in writing during due diligence.
Myrtle Grove has no downtown, no walkable block and no library branch. The nearest is Pine Valley Library, three and a half miles north. Everything commercial sits on Carolina Beach Road and you drive to it. If walkability is near the top of your list, we would point you to Historic Downtown or Mayfaire instead and tell you honestly that you will trade lot size for it. There is also no single association here. With sixty recorded subdivisions, the covenants, dues and the rules on docks and short-term rentals change from one plat to the next, so ask which subdivision the parcel is in and read those specific documents, not the neighborhood’s reputation.
Related questions people also ask
Is Myrtle Grove in the city of Wilmington?
No. Myrtle Grove is an unincorporated census designated place in southern New Hanover County, south of the Wilmington city limits, even though nearly every address carries a Wilmington 28409 mailing address. The practical consequence is that there is no municipal property tax line on the bill, and that county rather than city departments handle services. Confirm water and sewer in writing, because the Cape Fear Public Utility Authority serves much of unincorporated New Hanover County but not all of it.
How long is the drive from Myrtle Grove to the beach?
The Carolina Beach boardwalk is about 6.6 miles and roughly 13 minutes by road routing calculated on October 6, 2026 from the center of the neighborhood, and Wrightsville Beach is about 13.3 miles and 25 minutes. Those are free-flow estimates, so add time in summer and at rush hour, particularly northbound through Monkey Junction. For most buyers here the trade is simple: a shorter beach drive than almost anywhere in the city, and a longer drive to downtown.
Are there new construction homes in Myrtle Grove?
Some, but it is mostly infill rather than large new communities, because the area filled in over the previous four decades. Of the 55 active houses and townhomes on the Coldwell Banker Myrtle Grove page on October 6, 2026, nine were new construction. Buyers who want a wider choice of new homes usually end up looking at Leland or Hampstead, where the production builders are active, and weighing that against the longer drive to the beach.
Pick two or three specific streets here rather than shopping the whole area, because east and west of Masonboro Loop Road are different purchases with different flood exposure, different schools and a $500,000 difference in price. Drive Carolina Beach Road at rush hour, then send us the streets you liked and we will pull the flood determinations, the subdivision covenants and the recent sales on each one. Schedule a consultation and we will tell you which side fits what you are actually trying to do.
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, Myrtle Grove CDP, American Community Survey 2020 to 2024; Coldwell Banker Myrtle Grove page, read October 6, 2026; New Hanover County historic tax rates, 2026; New Hanover County Schools 2026 to 2027 attendance boundary layers, 402 points sampled October 6, 2026; NC Department of Public Instruction, North Carolina School Report Cards, 2024-25 performance grades and growth, read October 29, 2026; FEMA National Flood Hazard Layer, 402 points queried October 6, 2026; NCDOT 2026 to 2035 State Transportation Improvement Program, project U-5790; Redfin county housing-market pages, read October 17, 2026, via our New Hanover County market update.
