Fletcher vs Mills River

A side-by-side comparison of Fletcher and Mills River: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Fletcher has the higher population (8,022 vs 7,214 in Mills River). Mills River has the higher median household income ($88,359 vs $75,117 in Fletcher). Mills River has the higher median home value ($358,500 vs $324,000 in Fletcher).

Population, income & housing

	Fletcher	Mills River
Population	8,022	7,214
Median age	45.5 yrs	46.6 yrs
Median household income	$75,117	$88,359
Median home value	$324,000	$358,500
Median gross rent	$1,207	$1,611
Housing units	3,760	3,122
Homeownership rate	82.1%	86.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	39.1%	41.3%
Unemployment rate	3.9%	4.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Fletcher	Mills River
Population	8,117 → 8,022 (-1.2%)	7,251 → 7,214 (-0.5%)
Median household income	$64,839 → $75,117 (+15.9%)	$66,667 → $88,359 (+32.5%)
Median home value	$215,700 → $324,000 (+50.2%)	$257,800 → $358,500 (+39.1%)
Median gross rent	$1,117 → $1,207 (+8.1%)	$956 → $1,611 (+68.5%)

Fletcher

Population

8,1178,022

Median household income

$64,839$75,117

Median home value

$215,700$324,000

Median gross rent

$1,117$1,207

Mills River

Population

7,2517,214

Median household income

$66,667$88,359

Median home value

$257,800$358,500

Median gross rent

$956$1,611

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Fletcher	Mills River
Under 5	4.4%	5.0%
5 to 17	11.9%	16.3%
18 to 24	6.7%	6.3%
25 to 34	10.1%	7.0%
35 to 44	16.1%	12.0%
45 to 54	11.3%	14.3%
55 to 64	16.2%	12.8%
65 to 74	15.0%	18.2%
75 and over	8.2%	8.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Fletcher	Mills River
White (non-Hispanic)	81.0%	84.0%
Black or African American	3.3%	3.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.5%
Asian	3.4%	4.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	1.3%	0.9%
Two or more races	1.9%	3.0%
Hispanic or Latino	9.0%	4.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Fletcher	Mills River
No high school diploma	6.6%	6.4%
High school graduate	20.0%	23.0%
Some college or associate's	34.4%	29.3%
Bachelor's degree	30.0%	23.8%
Graduate or professional degree	9.1%	17.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Fletcher	Mills River
Drove alone	83.5%	79.8%
Carpooled	6.4%	8.4%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.4%	0.2%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	9.7%	9.9%
Other means	0.0%	1.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Fletcher	Mills River
1-unit, detached	63.7%	77.9%
1-unit, attached	15.5%	2.1%
2 to 4 units	3.8%	1.6%
5 to 19 units	8.2%	0.0%
20 or more units	1.9%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	6.9%	18.4%

Poverty & households

	Fletcher	Mills River
Poverty rate	7.4%	2.0%
Average household size	2.29	2.55
Mean commute (minutes)	19	21
Median year structure built	2001	1997