Black Mountain vs Royal Pines

A side-by-side comparison of Black Mountain and Royal Pines: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Black Mountain has the higher population (8,462 vs 4,528 in Royal Pines). Royal Pines has the higher median household income ($105,956 vs $70,041 in Black Mountain). Royal Pines has the higher median home value ($369,500 vs $351,700 in Black Mountain).

Population, income & housing

	Black Mountain	Royal Pines
Population	8,462	4,528
Median age	60.6 yrs	43.9 yrs
Median household income	$70,041	$105,956
Median home value	$351,700	$369,500
Median gross rent	$1,334	$1,397
Housing units	5,046	2,093
Homeownership rate	65.2%	87.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	58.7%	54.4%
Unemployment rate	3.6%	2.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Black Mountain	Royal Pines
Population	8,144 → 8,462 (+3.9%)	4,759 → 4,528 (-4.9%)
Median household income	$50,373 → $70,041 (+39.0%)	$83,012 → $105,956 (+27.6%)
Median home value	$226,700 → $351,700 (+55.1%)	$260,300 → $369,500 (+42.0%)
Median gross rent	$791 → $1,334 (+68.6%)	$1,117 → $1,397 (+25.1%)

Black Mountain

Population

8,1448,462

Median household income

$50,373$70,041

Median home value

$226,700$351,700

Median gross rent

$791$1,334

Royal Pines

Population

4,7594,528

Median household income

$83,012$105,956

Median home value

$260,300$369,500

Median gross rent

$1,117$1,397

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Black Mountain	Royal Pines
Under 5	2.7%	8.0%
5 to 17	9.3%	13.2%
18 to 24	3.0%	4.3%
25 to 34	8.9%	8.2%
35 to 44	9.5%	17.4%
45 to 54	10.9%	13.9%
55 to 64	15.5%	15.0%
65 to 74	19.2%	12.7%
75 and over	21.0%	7.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Black Mountain	Royal Pines
White (non-Hispanic)	91.1%	91.8%
Black or African American	3.3%	0.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	0.3%	0.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.9%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.9%	4.6%
Hispanic or Latino	1.3%	2.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Black Mountain	Royal Pines
No high school diploma	6.7%	1.8%
High school graduate	17.0%	16.5%
Some college or associate's	17.6%	27.3%
Bachelor's degree	35.4%	27.8%
Graduate or professional degree	23.3%	26.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Black Mountain	Royal Pines
Drove alone	72.5%	78.2%
Carpooled	7.3%	1.9%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	2.6%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.0%
Worked from home	17.0%	19.9%
Other means	0.3%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Black Mountain	Royal Pines
1-unit, detached	73.5%	82.4%
1-unit, attached	3.5%	4.0%
2 to 4 units	3.3%	12.1%
5 to 19 units	10.5%	0.0%
20 or more units	3.7%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	5.5%	1.5%

Poverty & households

	Black Mountain	Royal Pines
Poverty rate	6.5%	1.3%
Average household size	2.18	2.44
Mean commute (minutes)	21	26
Median year structure built	1986	1980