Forest City vs Lake Lure

A side-by-side comparison of Forest City and Lake Lure: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Forest City has the higher population (7,368 vs 1,488 in Lake Lure). Lake Lure has the higher median household income ($72,813 vs $35,897 in Forest City). Lake Lure has the higher median home value ($510,300 vs $142,100 in Forest City).

Population, income & housing

	Forest City	Lake Lure
Population	7,368	1,488
Median age	34.8 yrs	61.8 yrs
Median household income	$35,897	$72,813
Median home value	$142,100	$510,300
Median gross rent	$815	$778
Housing units	3,244	2,339
Homeownership rate	41.1%	86.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	17.2%	58.7%
Unemployment rate	6.7%	2.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Forest City	Lake Lure
Population	7,155 → 7,368 (+3.0%)	1,498 → 1,488 (-0.7%)
Median household income	$27,589 → $35,897 (+30.1%)	$63,802 → $72,813 (+14.1%)
Median home value	$101,400 → $142,100 (+40.1%)	$338,600 → $510,300 (+50.7%)
Median gross rent	$592 → $815 (+37.7%)	$744 → $778 (+4.6%)

Forest City

Population

7,1557,368

Median household income

$27,589$35,897

Median home value

$101,400$142,100

Median gross rent

$592$815

Lake Lure

Population

1,4981,488

Median household income

$63,802$72,813

Median home value

$338,600$510,300

Median gross rent

$744$778

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Forest City	Lake Lure
Under 5	9.5%	1.1%
5 to 17	19.3%	7.7%
18 to 24	8.9%	1.6%
25 to 34	12.4%	3.4%
35 to 44	8.5%	7.5%
45 to 54	13.2%	10.0%
55 to 64	11.7%	27.5%
65 to 74	9.9%	25.7%
75 and over	6.6%	15.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Forest City	Lake Lure
White (non-Hispanic)	54.0%	82.5%
Black or African American	25.0%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.3%
Asian	1.6%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.6%
Some other race	1.8%	0.0%
Two or more races	6.7%	9.0%
Hispanic or Latino	10.8%	7.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Forest City	Lake Lure
No high school diploma	14.2%	3.7%
High school graduate	35.0%	11.7%
Some college or associate's	33.6%	26.0%
Bachelor's degree	10.4%	36.1%
Graduate or professional degree	6.8%	22.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Forest City	Lake Lure
Drove alone	83.0%	56.5%
Carpooled	10.2%	3.8%
Public transit	0.8%	0.0%
Walked	1.3%	4.9%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	4.7%	29.1%
Other means	0.0%	5.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Forest City	Lake Lure
1-unit, detached	71.0%	72.0%
1-unit, attached	1.6%	5.5%
2 to 4 units	13.7%	12.7%
5 to 19 units	6.7%	8.8%
20 or more units	3.5%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	3.4%	1.0%

Poverty & households

	Forest City	Lake Lure
Poverty rate	33.6%	8.9%
Average household size	2.73	1.82
Mean commute (minutes)	27	38
Median year structure built	1966	1986