Bethel vs Fountain

A side-by-side comparison of Bethel and Fountain: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Bethel has the higher population (1,528 vs 317 in Fountain). Fountain has the higher median home value ($120,600 vs $114,000 in Bethel). Since 2019, Fountain's population has grown faster (-9.7% vs -14.6%).

Population, income & housing

	Bethel	Fountain
Population	1,528	317
Median age	40.9 yrs	43.6 yrs
Median household income	$51,489	—
Median home value	$114,000	$120,600
Median gross rent	$733	$718
Housing units	848	197
Homeownership rate	66.7%	49.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	17.1%	21.5%
Unemployment rate	8.3%	25.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Bethel	Fountain
Population	1,789 → 1,528 (-14.6%)	351 → 317 (-9.7%)
Median household income	$36,848 → $51,489 (+39.7%)	$24,583 → $22,250 (-9.5%)
Median home value	$96,800 → $114,000 (+17.8%)	$78,800 → $120,600 (+53.0%)
Median gross rent	$589 → $733 (+24.4%)	$585 → $718 (+22.7%)

Bethel

Population

1,7891,528

Median household income

$36,848$51,489

Median home value

$96,800$114,000

Median gross rent

$589$733

Fountain

Population

351317

Median household income

$24,583$22,250

Median home value

$78,800$120,600

Median gross rent

$585$718

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Bethel	Fountain
Under 5	2.8%	3.2%
5 to 17	16.8%	17.7%
18 to 24	9.4%	8.8%
25 to 34	10.5%	11.7%
35 to 44	16.9%	9.5%
45 to 54	11.1%	9.8%
55 to 64	11.5%	17.4%
65 to 74	13.5%	13.2%
75 and over	7.5%	8.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Bethel	Fountain
White (non-Hispanic)	38.4%	47.6%
Black or African American	53.2%	50.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	6.6%	1.6%
Hispanic or Latino	1.5%	0.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Bethel	Fountain
No high school diploma	13.2%	22.0%
High school graduate	38.1%	31.8%
Some college or associate's	31.6%	24.7%
Bachelor's degree	11.1%	9.4%
Graduate or professional degree	6.0%	12.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Bethel	Fountain
Drove alone	91.9%	62.4%
Carpooled	6.6%	26.9%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	1.0%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	0.4%	10.8%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Bethel	Fountain
1-unit, detached	88.2%	65.5%
1-unit, attached	0.2%	15.7%
2 to 4 units	3.8%	5.6%
5 to 19 units	4.6%	1.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	2.0%
Mobile home & other	3.2%	10.2%

Poverty & households

	Bethel	Fountain
Poverty rate	12.0%	53.6%
Average household size	2.13	2.22
Mean commute (minutes)	25	20
Median year structure built	1962	1965