Black Mountain vs Swannanoa

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

Black Mountain and Swannanoa 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 6,043 in Swannanoa). Swannanoa has the higher median household income ($72,978 vs $70,041 in Black Mountain). Black Mountain has the higher median home value ($351,700 vs $270,800 in Swannanoa).

Population, income & housing

	Black Mountain	Swannanoa
Population	8,462	6,043
Median age	60.6 yrs	32.9 yrs
Median household income	$70,041	$72,978
Median home value	$351,700	$270,800
Median gross rent	$1,334	$692
Housing units	5,046	2,415
Homeownership rate	65.2%	80.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	58.7%	30.8%
Unemployment rate	3.6%	0.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Black Mountain	Swannanoa
Population	8,144 → 8,462 (+3.9%)	4,127 → 6,043 (+46.4%)
Median household income	$50,373 → $70,041 (+39.0%)	$32,268 → $72,978 (+126.2%)
Median home value	$226,700 → $351,700 (+55.1%)	$136,700 → $270,800 (+98.1%)
Median gross rent	$791 → $1,334 (+68.6%)	$820 → $692 (-15.6%)

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

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)

	Black Mountain	Swannanoa
Under 5	2.7%	9.1%
5 to 17	9.3%	14.9%
18 to 24	3.0%	7.3%
25 to 34	8.9%	20.3%
35 to 44	9.5%	11.9%
45 to 54	10.9%	6.2%
55 to 64	15.5%	11.5%
65 to 74	19.2%	13.3%
75 and over	21.0%	5.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Black Mountain	Swannanoa
White (non-Hispanic)	91.1%	82.7%
Black or African American	3.3%	0.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.3%
Asian	0.3%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.9%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.9%	5.7%
Hispanic or Latino	1.3%	10.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Black Mountain	Swannanoa
No high school diploma	6.7%	11.8%
High school graduate	17.0%	31.0%
Some college or associate's	17.6%	26.4%
Bachelor's degree	35.4%	22.7%
Graduate or professional degree	23.3%	8.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Black Mountain	Swannanoa
Drove alone	72.5%	83.3%
Carpooled	7.3%	0.7%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	2.6%	4.6%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.0%
Worked from home	17.0%	11.3%
Other means	0.3%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Black Mountain	Swannanoa
1-unit, detached	73.5%	85.1%
1-unit, attached	3.5%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	3.3%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	10.5%	0.3%
20 or more units	3.7%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	5.5%	14.6%

Poverty & households

	Black Mountain	Swannanoa
Poverty rate	6.5%	15.1%
Average household size	2.18	3.10
Mean commute (minutes)	21	17
Median year structure built	1986	1984