Lake Lure vs Ruth

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

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

Lake Lure has the higher population (1,488 vs 526 in Ruth). Lake Lure has the higher median household income ($72,813 vs $48,125 in Ruth). Lake Lure has the higher median home value ($510,300 vs $122,000 in Ruth).

Population, income & housing

	Lake Lure	Ruth
Population	1,488	526
Median age	61.8 yrs	41.6 yrs
Median household income	$72,813	$48,125
Median home value	$510,300	$122,000
Median gross rent	$778	$707
Housing units	2,339	243
Homeownership rate	86.2%	76.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	58.7%	13.6%
Unemployment rate	2.8%	3.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Lake Lure	Ruth
Population	1,498 → 1,488 (-0.7%)	586 → 526 (-10.2%)
Median household income	$63,802 → $72,813 (+14.1%)	$42,727 → $48,125 (+12.6%)
Median home value	$338,600 → $510,300 (+50.7%)	$133,300 → $122,000 (-8.5%)
Median gross rent	$744 → $778 (+4.6%)	$613 → $707 (+15.3%)

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

Ruth

Population

586526

Median household income

$42,727$48,125

Median home value

$133,300$122,000

Median gross rent

$613$707

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Lake Lure	Ruth
Under 5	1.1%	3.8%
5 to 17	7.7%	18.1%
18 to 24	1.6%	6.8%
25 to 34	3.4%	15.2%
35 to 44	7.5%	8.0%
45 to 54	10.0%	17.5%
55 to 64	27.5%	13.9%
65 to 74	25.7%	12.7%
75 and over	15.5%	4.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Lake Lure	Ruth
White (non-Hispanic)	82.5%	82.5%
Black or African American	0.0%	1.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.6%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	9.0%	5.7%
Hispanic or Latino	7.7%	10.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Lake Lure	Ruth
No high school diploma	3.7%	17.1%
High school graduate	11.7%	32.0%
Some college or associate's	26.0%	37.3%
Bachelor's degree	36.1%	9.9%
Graduate or professional degree	22.6%	3.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Lake Lure	Ruth
Drove alone	56.5%	93.0%
Carpooled	3.8%	3.8%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	4.9%	2.2%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	29.1%	1.1%
Other means	5.7%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Lake Lure	Ruth
1-unit, detached	72.0%	62.1%
1-unit, attached	5.5%	4.9%
2 to 4 units	12.7%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	8.8%	0.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	1.0%	32.9%

Poverty & households

	Lake Lure	Ruth
Poverty rate	8.9%	29.4%
Average household size	1.82	2.47
Mean commute (minutes)	38	23
Median year structure built	1986	1980