Cullowhee vs Sylva

A side-by-side comparison of Cullowhee and Sylva: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Cullowhee has the higher population (7,300 vs 2,600 in Sylva). Sylva has the higher median household income ($41,926 vs $35,076 in Cullowhee). Since 2019, Cullowhee's population has grown faster (+14.5% vs -3.2%).

Population, income & housing

	Cullowhee	Sylva
Population	7,300	2,600
Median age	20.9 yrs	30.3 yrs
Median household income	$35,076	$41,926
Median home value	—	$195,500
Median gross rent	$836	$768
Housing units	2,267	1,272
Homeownership rate	7.7%	40.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	29.4%	34.4%
Unemployment rate	13.6%	13.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Cullowhee	Sylva
Population	6,377 → 7,300 (+14.5%)	2,687 → 2,600 (-3.2%)
Median household income	$31,993 → $35,076 (+9.6%)	$35,583 → $41,926 (+17.8%)
Median home value	$230,300 → $376,600 (+63.5%)	$144,400 → $195,500 (+35.4%)
Median gross rent	$658 → $836 (+27.1%)	$697 → $768 (+10.2%)

Cullowhee

Population

6,3777,300

Median household income

$31,993$35,076

Median home value

$230,300$376,600

Median gross rent

$658$836

Sylva

Population

2,6872,600

Median household income

$35,583$41,926

Median home value

$144,400$195,500

Median gross rent

$697$768

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Cullowhee	Sylva
Under 5	0.4%	8.8%
5 to 17	4.1%	20.9%
18 to 24	77.2%	16.7%
25 to 34	9.2%	13.2%
35 to 44	2.6%	13.2%
45 to 54	1.2%	8.8%
55 to 64	3.8%	5.3%
65 to 74	1.0%	5.2%
75 and over	0.6%	7.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Cullowhee	Sylva
White (non-Hispanic)	77.9%	74.1%
Black or African American	7.4%	1.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	1.2%	5.2%
Asian	0.9%	1.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.4%
Two or more races	1.7%	3.9%
Hispanic or Latino	10.5%	13.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Cullowhee	Sylva
No high school diploma	6.8%	18.7%
High school graduate	36.6%	27.8%
Some college or associate's	27.2%	19.1%
Bachelor's degree	17.6%	16.8%
Graduate or professional degree	11.8%	17.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Cullowhee	Sylva
Drove alone	70.6%	71.1%
Carpooled	4.1%	22.0%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	15.8%	2.1%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	6.4%	2.9%
Other means	3.1%	1.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Cullowhee	Sylva
1-unit, detached	12.8%	61.6%
1-unit, attached	3.8%	0.5%
2 to 4 units	13.1%	13.3%
5 to 19 units	30.3%	2.8%
20 or more units	32.2%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	7.8%	21.9%

Poverty & households

	Cullowhee	Sylva
Poverty rate	51.3%	26.6%
Average household size	1.97	2.38
Mean commute (minutes)	19	25
Median year structure built	2004	1974