Lake Lure vs Rutherfordton

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

Lake Lure 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 1,488 in Lake Lure). Lake Lure has the higher median household income ($72,813 vs $59,750 in Rutherfordton). Lake Lure has the higher median home value ($510,300 vs $226,900 in Rutherfordton).

Population, income & housing

	Lake Lure	Rutherfordton
Population	1,488	3,669
Median age	61.8 yrs	39.0 yrs
Median household income	$72,813	$59,750
Median home value	$510,300	$226,900
Median gross rent	$778	$901
Housing units	2,339	1,691
Homeownership rate	86.2%	65.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	58.7%	29.5%
Unemployment rate	2.8%	9.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Lake Lure	Rutherfordton
Population	1,498 → 1,488 (-0.7%)	4,073 → 3,669 (-9.9%)
Median household income	$63,802 → $72,813 (+14.1%)	$47,175 → $59,750 (+26.7%)
Median home value	$338,600 → $510,300 (+50.7%)	$124,000 → $226,900 (+83.0%)
Median gross rent	$744 → $778 (+4.6%)	$783 → $901 (+15.1%)

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

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)

	Lake Lure	Rutherfordton
Under 5	1.1%	6.3%
5 to 17	7.7%	15.9%
18 to 24	1.6%	2.9%
25 to 34	3.4%	19.9%
35 to 44	7.5%	10.4%
45 to 54	10.0%	4.6%
55 to 64	27.5%	14.6%
65 to 74	25.7%	12.3%
75 and over	15.5%	13.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Lake Lure	Rutherfordton
White (non-Hispanic)	82.5%	72.2%
Black or African American	0.0%	9.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.4%
Asian	0.0%	1.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.6%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.2%
Two or more races	9.0%	9.6%
Hispanic or Latino	7.7%	7.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Lake Lure	Rutherfordton
No high school diploma	3.7%	10.8%
High school graduate	11.7%	25.7%
Some college or associate's	26.0%	34.1%
Bachelor's degree	36.1%	24.1%
Graduate or professional degree	22.6%	5.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Lake Lure	Rutherfordton
Drove alone	56.5%	74.0%
Carpooled	3.8%	17.5%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	4.9%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	29.1%	3.8%
Other means	5.7%	4.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Lake Lure	Rutherfordton
1-unit, detached	72.0%	78.7%
1-unit, attached	5.5%	5.1%
2 to 4 units	12.7%	8.8%
5 to 19 units	8.8%	2.8%
20 or more units	0.0%	3.0%
Mobile home & other	1.0%	1.5%

Poverty & households

	Lake Lure	Rutherfordton
Poverty rate	8.9%	19.1%
Average household size	1.82	2.40
Mean commute (minutes)	38	21
Median year structure built	1986	1972