Cliffside vs Rutherfordton

A side-by-side comparison of Cliffside and Rutherfordton: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Rutherfordton has the higher population (3,669 vs 630 in Cliffside). Since 2019, Cliffside's population has grown faster (-5.3% vs -9.9%).

Population, income & housing

	Cliffside	Rutherfordton
Population	630	3,669
Median age	50.6 yrs	39.0 yrs
Median household income	—	$59,750
Median home value	—	$226,900
Median gross rent	—	$901
Housing units	315	1,691
Homeownership rate	91.0%	65.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	24.0%	29.5%
Unemployment rate	0.0%	9.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Cliffside	Rutherfordton
Population	665 → 630 (-5.3%)	4,073 → 3,669 (-9.9%)
Median household income	$54,792 → $34,111 (-37.7%)	$47,175 → $59,750 (+26.7%)
Median home value	—	$124,000 → $226,900 (+83.0%)
Median gross rent	—	$783 → $901 (+15.1%)

Cliffside

Population

665630

Median household income

$54,792$34,111

Rutherfordton

Population

4,0733,669

Median household income

$47,175$59,750

Median home value

$124,000$226,900

Median gross rent

$783$901

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Cliffside	Rutherfordton
Under 5	0.0%	6.3%
5 to 17	6.0%	15.9%
18 to 24	24.0%	2.9%
25 to 34	13.7%	19.9%
35 to 44	3.8%	10.4%
45 to 54	25.9%	4.6%
55 to 64	8.9%	14.6%
65 to 74	17.1%	12.3%
75 and over	0.6%	13.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Cliffside	Rutherfordton
White (non-Hispanic)	93.5%	72.2%
Black or African American	6.5%	9.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.4%
Asian	0.0%	1.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.2%
Two or more races	0.0%	9.6%
Hispanic or Latino	0.0%	7.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Cliffside	Rutherfordton
No high school diploma	5.2%	10.8%
High school graduate	55.6%	25.7%
Some college or associate's	15.2%	34.1%
Bachelor's degree	20.6%	24.1%
Graduate or professional degree	3.4%	5.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Cliffside	Rutherfordton
Drove alone	86.4%	74.0%
Carpooled	0.0%	17.5%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.0%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	13.6%	3.8%
Other means	0.0%	4.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Cliffside	Rutherfordton
1-unit, detached	87.0%	78.7%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	5.1%
2 to 4 units	0.0%	8.8%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	2.8%
20 or more units	0.0%	3.0%
Mobile home & other	13.0%	1.5%

Poverty & households

	Cliffside	Rutherfordton
Poverty rate	4.9%	19.1%
Average household size	2.19	2.40
Mean commute (minutes)	16	21
Median year structure built	1991	1972