Forest City vs Spindale

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

Forest City and Spindale 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 4,244 in Spindale). Spindale has the higher median household income ($38,509 vs $35,897 in Forest City). Forest City has the higher median home value ($142,100 vs $130,800 in Spindale).

Population, income & housing

	Forest City	Spindale
Population	7,368	4,244
Median age	34.8 yrs	44.9 yrs
Median household income	$35,897	$38,509
Median home value	$142,100	$130,800
Median gross rent	$815	$707
Housing units	3,244	2,154
Homeownership rate	41.1%	45.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	17.2%	14.3%
Unemployment rate	6.7%	11.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Forest City	Spindale
Population	7,155 → 7,368 (+3.0%)	4,190 → 4,244 (+1.3%)
Median household income	$27,589 → $35,897 (+30.1%)	$32,083 → $38,509 (+20.0%)
Median home value	$101,400 → $142,100 (+40.1%)	$89,000 → $130,800 (+47.0%)
Median gross rent	$592 → $815 (+37.7%)	$583 → $707 (+21.3%)

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

Spindale

Population

4,1904,244

Median household income

$32,083$38,509

Median home value

$89,000$130,800

Median gross rent

$583$707

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Forest City	Spindale
Under 5	9.5%	0.4%
5 to 17	19.3%	10.6%
18 to 24	8.9%	10.5%
25 to 34	12.4%	9.6%
35 to 44	8.5%	19.3%
45 to 54	13.2%	15.3%
55 to 64	11.7%	13.9%
65 to 74	9.9%	14.4%
75 and over	6.6%	6.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Forest City	Spindale
White (non-Hispanic)	54.0%	79.1%
Black or African American	25.0%	14.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	1.6%	0.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	1.8%	1.2%
Two or more races	6.7%	2.5%
Hispanic or Latino	10.8%	2.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Forest City	Spindale
No high school diploma	14.2%	16.9%
High school graduate	35.0%	29.0%
Some college or associate's	33.6%	39.8%
Bachelor's degree	10.4%	9.7%
Graduate or professional degree	6.8%	4.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Forest City	Spindale
Drove alone	83.0%	77.5%
Carpooled	10.2%	12.5%
Public transit	0.8%	0.0%
Walked	1.3%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	1.2%
Worked from home	4.7%	7.6%
Other means	0.0%	1.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Forest City	Spindale
1-unit, detached	71.0%	76.0%
1-unit, attached	1.6%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	13.7%	5.0%
5 to 19 units	6.7%	10.4%
20 or more units	3.5%	6.7%
Mobile home & other	3.4%	2.0%

Poverty & households

	Forest City	Spindale
Poverty rate	33.6%	16.9%
Average household size	2.73	1.97
Mean commute (minutes)	27	24
Median year structure built	1966	1958