Bessemer City vs Gastonia

A side-by-side comparison of Bessemer City and Gastonia: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Gastonia has the higher population (81,632 vs 5,508 in Bessemer City). Gastonia has the higher median household income ($60,554 vs $48,784 in Bessemer City). Gastonia has the higher median home value ($250,000 vs $173,000 in Bessemer City).

Population, income & housing

	Bessemer City	Gastonia
Population	5,508	81,632
Median age	34.3 yrs	37.2 yrs
Median household income	$48,784	$60,554
Median home value	$173,000	$250,000
Median gross rent	$942	$1,145
Housing units	2,397	34,721
Homeownership rate	55.9%	54.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	14.4%	27.7%
Unemployment rate	7.3%	5.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Bessemer City	Gastonia
Population	5,471 → 5,508 (+0.7%)	75,887 → 81,632 (+7.6%)
Median household income	$40,714 → $48,784 (+19.8%)	$49,460 → $60,554 (+22.4%)
Median home value	$109,100 → $173,000 (+58.6%)	$155,200 → $250,000 (+61.1%)
Median gross rent	$772 → $942 (+22.0%)	$879 → $1,145 (+30.3%)

Bessemer City

Population

5,4715,508

Median household income

$40,714$48,784

Median home value

$109,100$173,000

Median gross rent

$772$942

Gastonia

Population

75,88781,632

Median household income

$49,460$60,554

Median home value

$155,200$250,000

Median gross rent

$879$1,145

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Bessemer City	Gastonia
Under 5	6.8%	6.9%
5 to 17	13.7%	18.1%
18 to 24	10.5%	8.6%
25 to 34	19.7%	13.7%
35 to 44	8.0%	12.9%
45 to 54	13.4%	13.1%
55 to 64	11.2%	11.6%
65 to 74	10.6%	9.0%
75 and over	6.1%	6.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Bessemer City	Gastonia
White (non-Hispanic)	78.7%	51.7%
Black or African American	11.0%	30.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	0.1%	1.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.5%
Two or more races	2.8%	4.4%
Hispanic or Latino	6.9%	11.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Bessemer City	Gastonia
No high school diploma	18.0%	11.6%
High school graduate	36.8%	28.3%
Some college or associate's	30.9%	32.4%
Bachelor's degree	9.2%	19.0%
Graduate or professional degree	5.3%	8.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Bessemer City	Gastonia
Drove alone	78.8%	77.7%
Carpooled	15.5%	9.6%
Public transit	0.0%	1.0%
Walked	0.7%	0.8%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	4.8%	9.8%
Other means	0.2%	1.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Bessemer City	Gastonia
1-unit, detached	74.8%	67.7%
1-unit, attached	1.8%	3.2%
2 to 4 units	10.2%	9.1%
5 to 19 units	3.7%	13.7%
20 or more units	4.4%	3.9%
Mobile home & other	5.0%	2.4%

Poverty & households

	Bessemer City	Gastonia
Poverty rate	16.3%	14.3%
Average household size	2.56	2.53
Mean commute (minutes)	24	26
Median year structure built	1970	1979