Bessemer City vs Stanley

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

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

Bessemer City has the higher population (5,508 vs 4,014 in Stanley). Stanley has the higher median household income ($71,333 vs $48,784 in Bessemer City). Stanley has the higher median home value ($229,000 vs $173,000 in Bessemer City).

Population, income & housing

	Bessemer City	Stanley
Population	5,508	4,014
Median age	34.3 yrs	34.9 yrs
Median household income	$48,784	$71,333
Median home value	$173,000	$229,000
Median gross rent	$942	$1,142
Housing units	2,397	1,578
Homeownership rate	55.9%	71.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	14.4%	23.0%
Unemployment rate	7.3%	5.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Bessemer City	Stanley
Population	5,471 → 5,508 (+0.7%)	3,679 → 4,014 (+9.1%)
Median household income	$40,714 → $48,784 (+19.8%)	$55,733 → $71,333 (+28.0%)
Median home value	$109,100 → $173,000 (+58.6%)	$141,100 → $229,000 (+62.3%)
Median gross rent	$772 → $942 (+22.0%)	$820 → $1,142 (+39.3%)

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

Stanley

Population

3,6794,014

Median household income

$55,733$71,333

Median home value

$141,100$229,000

Median gross rent

$820$1,142

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Bessemer City	Stanley
Under 5	6.8%	7.5%
5 to 17	13.7%	18.0%
18 to 24	10.5%	8.1%
25 to 34	19.7%	16.6%
35 to 44	8.0%	9.5%
45 to 54	13.4%	12.8%
55 to 64	11.2%	10.0%
65 to 74	10.6%	11.3%
75 and over	6.1%	6.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Bessemer City	Stanley
White (non-Hispanic)	78.7%	79.2%
Black or African American	11.0%	6.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	0.1%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.8%	7.7%
Hispanic or Latino	6.9%	6.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Bessemer City	Stanley
No high school diploma	18.0%	6.8%
High school graduate	36.8%	26.4%
Some college or associate's	30.9%	43.8%
Bachelor's degree	9.2%	19.9%
Graduate or professional degree	5.3%	3.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Bessemer City	Stanley
Drove alone	78.8%	78.0%
Carpooled	15.5%	10.1%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.7%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	4.8%	11.9%
Other means	0.2%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Bessemer City	Stanley
1-unit, detached	74.8%	88.7%
1-unit, attached	1.8%	2.7%
2 to 4 units	10.2%	7.4%
5 to 19 units	3.7%	0.0%
20 or more units	4.4%	1.2%
Mobile home & other	5.0%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Bessemer City	Stanley
Poverty rate	16.3%	6.6%
Average household size	2.56	2.64
Mean commute (minutes)	24	28
Median year structure built	1970	1977