Kernersville vs Winston-Salem

A side-by-side comparison of Kernersville and Winston-Salem: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Winston-Salem has the higher population (250,887 vs 27,439 in Kernersville). Kernersville has the higher median household income ($69,923 vs $57,673 in Winston-Salem). Kernersville has the higher median home value ($264,000 vs $208,200 in Winston-Salem).

Population, income & housing

	Kernersville	Winston-Salem
Population	27,439	250,887
Median age	38.7 yrs	35.6 yrs
Median household income	$69,923	$57,673
Median home value	$264,000	$208,200
Median gross rent	$1,052	$1,033
Housing units	12,647	113,441
Homeownership rate	56.1%	54.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	36.2%	37.2%
Unemployment rate	3.8%	5.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Kernersville	Winston-Salem
Population	24,576 → 27,439 (+11.6%)	244,115 → 250,887 (+2.8%)
Median household income	$51,645 → $69,923 (+35.4%)	$45,750 → $57,673 (+26.1%)
Median home value	$181,300 → $264,000 (+45.6%)	$147,900 → $208,200 (+40.8%)
Median gross rent	$795 → $1,052 (+32.3%)	$806 → $1,033 (+28.2%)

Kernersville

Population

24,57627,439

Median household income

$51,645$69,923

Median home value

$181,300$264,000

Median gross rent

$795$1,052

Winston-Salem

Population

244,115250,887

Median household income

$45,750$57,673

Median home value

$147,900$208,200

Median gross rent

$806$1,033

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Kernersville	Winston-Salem
Under 5	5.5%	5.9%
5 to 17	16.4%	17.8%
18 to 24	9.3%	11.6%
25 to 34	14.3%	14.0%
35 to 44	12.4%	12.1%
45 to 54	12.5%	11.9%
55 to 64	12.4%	12.0%
65 to 74	10.6%	8.5%
75 and over	6.7%	6.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Kernersville	Winston-Salem
White (non-Hispanic)	67.0%	44.0%
Black or African American	17.1%	31.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.2%
Asian	2.1%	2.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.6%
Two or more races	2.2%	3.4%
Hispanic or Latino	11.1%	17.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Kernersville	Winston-Salem
No high school diploma	8.4%	11.6%
High school graduate	24.7%	23.7%
Some college or associate's	30.7%	27.5%
Bachelor's degree	22.8%	21.6%
Graduate or professional degree	13.5%	15.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Kernersville	Winston-Salem
Drove alone	80.8%	73.2%
Carpooled	7.1%	9.5%
Public transit	0.6%	1.2%
Walked	1.3%	2.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.3%
Worked from home	9.6%	12.3%
Other means	0.6%	1.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Kernersville	Winston-Salem
1-unit, detached	51.2%	61.3%
1-unit, attached	6.2%	4.6%
2 to 4 units	6.9%	5.9%
5 to 19 units	21.0%	17.9%
20 or more units	10.2%	8.4%
Mobile home & other	4.4%	1.9%

Poverty & households

	Kernersville	Winston-Salem
Poverty rate	11.5%	17.9%
Average household size	2.26	2.40
Mean commute (minutes)	23	22
Median year structure built	1993	1980