Forest City vs Rutherfordton

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

Forest City and Rutherfordton 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 3,669 in Rutherfordton). Rutherfordton has the higher median household income ($59,750 vs $35,897 in Forest City). Rutherfordton has the higher median home value ($226,900 vs $142,100 in Forest City).

Population, income & housing

	Forest City	Rutherfordton
Population	7,368	3,669
Median age	34.8 yrs	39.0 yrs
Median household income	$35,897	$59,750
Median home value	$142,100	$226,900
Median gross rent	$815	$901
Housing units	3,244	1,691
Homeownership rate	41.1%	65.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	17.2%	29.5%
Unemployment rate	6.7%	9.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Forest City	Rutherfordton
Population	7,155 → 7,368 (+3.0%)	4,073 → 3,669 (-9.9%)
Median household income	$27,589 → $35,897 (+30.1%)	$47,175 → $59,750 (+26.7%)
Median home value	$101,400 → $142,100 (+40.1%)	$124,000 → $226,900 (+83.0%)
Median gross rent	$592 → $815 (+37.7%)	$783 → $901 (+15.1%)

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

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)

	Forest City	Rutherfordton
Under 5	9.5%	6.3%
5 to 17	19.3%	15.9%
18 to 24	8.9%	2.9%
25 to 34	12.4%	19.9%
35 to 44	8.5%	10.4%
45 to 54	13.2%	4.6%
55 to 64	11.7%	14.6%
65 to 74	9.9%	12.3%
75 and over	6.6%	13.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Forest City	Rutherfordton
White (non-Hispanic)	54.0%	72.2%
Black or African American	25.0%	9.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.4%
Asian	1.6%	1.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	1.8%	0.2%
Two or more races	6.7%	9.6%
Hispanic or Latino	10.8%	7.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Forest City	Rutherfordton
No high school diploma	14.2%	10.8%
High school graduate	35.0%	25.7%
Some college or associate's	33.6%	34.1%
Bachelor's degree	10.4%	24.1%
Graduate or professional degree	6.8%	5.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Forest City	Rutherfordton
Drove alone	83.0%	74.0%
Carpooled	10.2%	17.5%
Public transit	0.8%	0.0%
Walked	1.3%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	4.7%	3.8%
Other means	0.0%	4.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Forest City	Rutherfordton
1-unit, detached	71.0%	78.7%
1-unit, attached	1.6%	5.1%
2 to 4 units	13.7%	8.8%
5 to 19 units	6.7%	2.8%
20 or more units	3.5%	3.0%
Mobile home & other	3.4%	1.5%

Poverty & households

	Forest City	Rutherfordton
Poverty rate	33.6%	19.1%
Average household size	2.73	2.40
Mean commute (minutes)	27	21
Median year structure built	1966	1972