Hot Springs vs Mars Hill

A side-by-side comparison of Hot Springs and Mars Hill: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Mars Hill has the higher population (2,738 vs 494 in Hot Springs). Mars Hill has the higher median household income ($77,826 vs $39,167 in Hot Springs). Mars Hill has the higher median home value ($295,700 vs $184,900 in Hot Springs).

Population, income & housing

	Hot Springs	Mars Hill
Population	494	2,738
Median age	46.4 yrs	30.3 yrs
Median household income	$39,167	$77,826
Median home value	$184,900	$295,700
Median gross rent	$488	$942
Housing units	296	960
Homeownership rate	51.5%	61.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	25.3%	50.1%
Unemployment rate	4.2%	3.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Hot Springs	Mars Hill
Population	532 → 494 (-7.1%)	2,537 → 2,738 (+7.9%)
Median household income	$40,156 → $39,167 (-2.5%)	$46,932 → $77,826 (+65.8%)
Median home value	$162,100 → $184,900 (+14.1%)	$206,800 → $295,700 (+43.0%)
Median gross rent	$420 → $488 (+16.2%)	$769 → $942 (+22.5%)

Hot Springs

Population

532494

Median household income

$40,156$39,167

Median home value

$162,100$184,900

Median gross rent

$420$488

Mars Hill

Population

2,5372,738

Median household income

$46,932$77,826

Median home value

$206,800$295,700

Median gross rent

$769$942

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Hot Springs	Mars Hill
Under 5	2.8%	3.5%
5 to 17	11.1%	15.3%
18 to 24	9.3%	26.0%
25 to 34	6.7%	8.7%
35 to 44	17.0%	14.3%
45 to 54	23.1%	6.6%
55 to 64	12.6%	10.6%
65 to 74	8.1%	9.1%
75 and over	9.3%	5.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Hot Springs	Mars Hill
White (non-Hispanic)	97.4%	86.0%
Black or African American	0.0%	5.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.6%
Asian	0.0%	0.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.7%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.6%	1.1%
Hispanic or Latino	0.0%	5.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Hot Springs	Mars Hill
No high school diploma	2.6%	3.1%
High school graduate	40.4%	25.5%
Some college or associate's	31.7%	21.3%
Bachelor's degree	22.4%	30.1%
Graduate or professional degree	2.9%	19.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Hot Springs	Mars Hill
Drove alone	80.1%	68.2%
Carpooled	0.0%	3.1%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	11.0%	11.7%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.1%
Worked from home	8.9%	16.5%
Other means	0.0%	0.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Hot Springs	Mars Hill
1-unit, detached	56.8%	71.6%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	0.5%
2 to 4 units	22.3%	11.1%
5 to 19 units	0.7%	9.1%
20 or more units	0.3%	3.8%
Mobile home & other	19.9%	4.0%

Poverty & households

	Hot Springs	Mars Hill
Poverty rate	18.8%	3.3%
Average household size	2.27	2.44
Mean commute (minutes)	25	28
Median year structure built	1972	1982