Salisbury vs Spencer

A side-by-side comparison of Salisbury and Spencer: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Salisbury has the higher population (35,730 vs 3,305 in Spencer). Spencer has the higher median household income ($64,031 vs $51,058 in Salisbury). Salisbury has the higher median home value ($215,200 vs $149,800 in Spencer).

Population, income & housing

	Salisbury	Spencer
Population	35,730	3,305
Median age	36.5 yrs	45.7 yrs
Median household income	$51,058	$64,031
Median home value	$215,200	$149,800
Median gross rent	$1,030	$1,042
Housing units	15,523	1,541
Homeownership rate	49.7%	64.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	26.9%	21.4%
Unemployment rate	7.5%	4.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Salisbury	Spencer
Population	33,727 → 35,730 (+5.9%)	3,230 → 3,305 (+2.3%)
Median household income	$41,901 → $51,058 (+21.9%)	$53,163 → $64,031 (+20.4%)
Median home value	$129,100 → $215,200 (+66.7%)	$98,500 → $149,800 (+52.1%)
Median gross rent	$786 → $1,030 (+31.0%)	$926 → $1,042 (+12.5%)

Salisbury

Population

33,72735,730

Median household income

$41,901$51,058

Median home value

$129,100$215,200

Median gross rent

$786$1,030

Spencer

Population

3,2303,305

Median household income

$53,163$64,031

Median home value

$98,500$149,800

Median gross rent

$926$1,042

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Salisbury	Spencer
Under 5	5.5%	4.9%
5 to 17	17.1%	13.9%
18 to 24	11.6%	4.1%
25 to 34	13.6%	14.9%
35 to 44	12.1%	11.2%
45 to 54	12.8%	16.7%
55 to 64	9.9%	13.1%
65 to 74	9.3%	12.3%
75 and over	8.2%	8.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Salisbury	Spencer
White (non-Hispanic)	47.5%	61.2%
Black or African American	35.2%	33.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.1%
Asian	1.4%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.3%
Two or more races	3.3%	0.5%
Hispanic or Latino	12.1%	4.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Salisbury	Spencer
No high school diploma	13.4%	17.7%
High school graduate	27.5%	31.9%
Some college or associate's	32.3%	29.0%
Bachelor's degree	16.7%	17.4%
Graduate or professional degree	10.2%	4.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Salisbury	Spencer
Drove alone	74.0%	75.2%
Carpooled	11.5%	6.5%
Public transit	0.8%	0.0%
Walked	2.2%	1.2%
Bicycle	0.7%	0.0%
Worked from home	7.8%	17.1%
Other means	3.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Salisbury	Spencer
1-unit, detached	59.7%	86.3%
1-unit, attached	2.7%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	10.1%	7.7%
5 to 19 units	17.6%	3.0%
20 or more units	5.2%	0.3%
Mobile home & other	4.6%	2.7%

Poverty & households

	Salisbury	Spencer
Poverty rate	24.3%	13.1%
Average household size	2.36	2.40
Mean commute (minutes)	21	30
Median year structure built	1976	1955