North Carolina has 3,375 miles of coastal shoreline, and over 300 miles of barrier island coastline. Major cities and towns located on the North Carolina coast are Wilmington, Morehead City, Jacksonville, Nags Head, Kitty Hawk, and Ocracoke.
North Carolina’s coast is important for the state’s economy, which has recreational tourism and commercial fishing industry. North Carolina’s tourism industry brought in $21.9 billion during the 2015 years. In 2016, there were 28,688 commercial fishing licenses issued for North Carolina Fishermen.