Glen Alpine vs Valdese

A side-by-side comparison of Glen Alpine and Valdese: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Valdese has the higher population (4,689 vs 1,995 in Glen Alpine). Glen Alpine has the higher median household income ($62,917 vs $61,250 in Valdese). Glen Alpine has the higher median home value ($173,200 vs $171,300 in Valdese).

Population, income & housing

	Glen Alpine	Valdese
Population	1,995	4,689
Median age	36.7 yrs	53.2 yrs
Median household income	$62,917	$61,250
Median home value	$173,200	$171,300
Median gross rent	$847	$627
Housing units	739	2,335
Homeownership rate	80.0%	76.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	29.3%	37.9%
Unemployment rate	3.7%	4.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Glen Alpine	Valdese
Population	1,658 → 1,995 (+20.3%)	4,410 → 4,689 (+6.3%)
Median household income	$42,067 → $62,917 (+49.6%)	$58,350 → $61,250 (+5.0%)
Median home value	$115,600 → $173,200 (+49.8%)	$118,700 → $171,300 (+44.3%)
Median gross rent	$700 → $847 (+21.0%)	$552 → $627 (+13.6%)

Glen Alpine

Population

1,6581,995

Median household income

$42,067$62,917

Median home value

$115,600$173,200

Median gross rent

$700$847

Valdese

Population

4,4104,689

Median household income

$58,350$61,250

Median home value

$118,700$171,300

Median gross rent

$552$627

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Glen Alpine	Valdese
Under 5	6.4%	3.1%
5 to 17	21.7%	14.7%
18 to 24	7.3%	5.9%
25 to 34	9.5%	7.3%
35 to 44	19.5%	12.3%
45 to 54	10.0%	12.7%
55 to 64	12.2%	17.8%
65 to 74	9.2%	13.7%
75 and over	4.3%	12.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Glen Alpine	Valdese
White (non-Hispanic)	87.6%	86.4%
Black or African American	2.9%	1.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.0%
Asian	0.9%	2.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	4.1%	2.4%
Hispanic or Latino	4.5%	6.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Glen Alpine	Valdese
No high school diploma	9.8%	6.6%
High school graduate	27.9%	32.7%
Some college or associate's	33.1%	22.8%
Bachelor's degree	23.0%	21.5%
Graduate or professional degree	6.3%	16.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Glen Alpine	Valdese
Drove alone	82.1%	84.9%
Carpooled	8.4%	4.9%
Public transit	0.2%	0.0%
Walked	0.0%	0.7%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	8.1%	9.5%
Other means	1.2%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Glen Alpine	Valdese
1-unit, detached	83.9%	77.7%
1-unit, attached	0.4%	1.9%
2 to 4 units	1.8%	6.4%
5 to 19 units	0.8%	7.5%
20 or more units	0.0%	2.9%
Mobile home & other	13.1%	3.6%

Poverty & households

	Glen Alpine	Valdese
Poverty rate	13.2%	8.8%
Average household size	2.75	2.10
Mean commute (minutes)	26	26
Median year structure built	1971	1969