Kure Beach is a town in New Hanover County, North Carolina, United States, approximately 15 miles south of Wilmington. It is part of the Wilmington Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 2,012 at the 2010 census. It is found on Pleasure Island directly south of the Wilmington Beach annex of Carolina Beach and just north of Fort Fisher. The town is less than 1 square mile (2.6 km2) in area, stretching along about 3.5 miles (5.6 km) of coastline along Pleasure Island, and a maximum width of less than 0.5 miles (0.80 km), in most places only a few hundred yard/meters wide.

New Hanover County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 225,702. Though the second-smallest county in North Carolina by land area, it is one of the most populous, as its county seat, Wilmington, is one of the state's largest communities. The county was created in 1729 as New Hanover Precinct and gained county status in 1739. New Hanover County is included in the Wilmington, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area, which also includes neighboring Pender and Brunswick counties.