Asheville vs Swannanoa

A side-by-side comparison of Asheville and Swannanoa: population, income, housing, and more.

Asheville and Swannanoa are places in North Carolina. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Asheville has the higher population (94,369 vs 6,043 in Swannanoa). Swannanoa has the higher median household income ($72,978 vs $67,221 in Asheville). Asheville has the higher median home value ($411,000 vs $270,800 in Swannanoa).

Population, income & housing

	Asheville	Swannanoa
Population	94,369	6,043
Median age	40.7 yrs	32.9 yrs
Median household income	$67,221	$72,978
Median home value	$411,000	$270,800
Median gross rent	$1,303	$692
Housing units	49,130	2,415
Homeownership rate	50.3%	80.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	52.0%	30.8%
Unemployment rate	4.0%	0.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Asheville	Swannanoa
Population	91,560 → 94,369 (+3.1%)	4,127 → 6,043 (+46.4%)
Median household income	$49,930 → $67,221 (+34.6%)	$32,268 → $72,978 (+126.2%)
Median home value	$270,400 → $411,000 (+52.0%)	$136,700 → $270,800 (+98.1%)
Median gross rent	$1,043 → $1,303 (+24.9%)	$820 → $692 (-15.6%)

Asheville

Population

91,56094,369

Median household income

$49,930$67,221

Median home value

$270,400$411,000

Median gross rent

$1,043$1,303

Swannanoa

Population

4,1276,043

Median household income

$32,268$72,978

Median home value

$136,700$270,800

Median gross rent

$820$692

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Asheville	Swannanoa
Under 5	4.6%	9.1%
5 to 17	12.0%	14.9%
18 to 24	7.6%	7.3%
25 to 34	17.2%	20.3%
35 to 44	14.8%	11.9%
45 to 54	13.2%	6.2%
55 to 64	11.3%	11.5%
65 to 74	10.6%	13.3%
75 and over	8.6%	5.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Asheville	Swannanoa
White (non-Hispanic)	78.4%	82.7%
Black or African American	9.7%	0.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.3%
Asian	1.3%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.9%	5.7%
Hispanic or Latino	7.1%	10.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Asheville	Swannanoa
No high school diploma	6.5%	11.8%
High school graduate	18.7%	31.0%
Some college or associate's	22.8%	26.4%
Bachelor's degree	30.5%	22.7%
Graduate or professional degree	21.5%	8.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Asheville	Swannanoa
Drove alone	68.4%	83.3%
Carpooled	5.8%	0.7%
Public transit	1.5%	0.0%
Walked	3.7%	4.6%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.0%
Worked from home	18.7%	11.3%
Other means	1.4%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Asheville	Swannanoa
1-unit, detached	57.3%	85.1%
1-unit, attached	3.9%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	8.4%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	15.9%	0.3%
20 or more units	10.7%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	3.6%	14.6%

Poverty & households

	Asheville	Swannanoa
Poverty rate	14.6%	15.1%
Average household size	2.39	3.10
Mean commute (minutes)	18	17
Median year structure built	1980	1984