Carrboro vs Hillsborough

A side-by-side comparison of Carrboro and Hillsborough: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Carrboro has the higher population (21,170 vs 9,656 in Hillsborough). Hillsborough has the higher median household income ($98,467 vs $85,927 in Carrboro). Carrboro has the higher median home value ($507,100 vs $430,100 in Hillsborough).

Population, income & housing

	Carrboro	Hillsborough
Population	21,170	9,656
Median age	34.0 yrs	43.6 yrs
Median household income	$85,927	$98,467
Median home value	$507,100	$430,100
Median gross rent	$1,337	$1,349
Housing units	10,159	4,461
Homeownership rate	43.6%	63.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	70.4%	61.8%
Unemployment rate	3.9%	4.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Carrboro	Hillsborough
Population	21,230 → 21,170 (-0.3%)	7,115 → 9,656 (+35.7%)
Median household income	$58,702 → $85,927 (+46.4%)	$64,598 → $98,467 (+52.4%)
Median home value	$368,800 → $507,100 (+37.5%)	$261,200 → $430,100 (+64.7%)
Median gross rent	$1,078 → $1,337 (+24.0%)	$1,025 → $1,349 (+31.6%)

Carrboro

Population

21,23021,170

Median household income

$58,702$85,927

Median home value

$368,800$507,100

Median gross rent

$1,078$1,337

Hillsborough

Population

7,1159,656

Median household income

$64,598$98,467

Median home value

$261,200$430,100

Median gross rent

$1,025$1,349

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Carrboro	Hillsborough
Under 5	4.2%	6.1%
5 to 17	17.0%	15.5%
18 to 24	11.5%	4.1%
25 to 34	18.3%	10.6%
35 to 44	14.6%	15.3%
45 to 54	14.2%	15.1%
55 to 64	10.2%	15.5%
65 to 74	5.7%	11.9%
75 and over	4.2%	6.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Carrboro	Hillsborough
White (non-Hispanic)	64.0%	72.3%
Black or African American	12.8%	9.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.2%
Asian	7.9%	2.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.2%
Two or more races	3.4%	5.6%
Hispanic or Latino	11.6%	9.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Carrboro	Hillsborough
No high school diploma	5.0%	7.8%
High school graduate	7.1%	12.2%
Some college or associate's	17.5%	18.2%
Bachelor's degree	26.9%	31.7%
Graduate or professional degree	43.5%	30.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Carrboro	Hillsborough
Drove alone	52.5%	64.0%
Carpooled	7.1%	4.6%
Public transit	7.7%	0.8%
Walked	3.0%	1.0%
Bicycle	4.4%	0.5%
Worked from home	23.9%	28.3%
Other means	1.5%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Carrboro	Hillsborough
1-unit, detached	43.5%	64.6%
1-unit, attached	8.7%	13.9%
2 to 4 units	5.6%	2.0%
5 to 19 units	30.1%	9.4%
20 or more units	11.1%	9.9%
Mobile home & other	1.0%	0.2%

Poverty & households

	Carrboro	Hillsborough
Poverty rate	11.3%	8.7%
Average household size	2.24	2.22
Mean commute (minutes)	23	21
Median year structure built	1986	1997