Cary vs Fuquay-Varina

A side-by-side comparison of Cary and Fuquay-Varina: population, income, housing, and more.

Cary and Fuquay-Varina are places in North Carolina. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Cary has the higher population (176,686 vs 37,749 in Fuquay-Varina). Cary has the higher median household income ($129,399 vs $111,447 in Fuquay-Varina). Cary has the higher median home value ($525,200 vs $410,600 in Fuquay-Varina).

Population, income & housing

	Cary	Fuquay-Varina
Population	176,686	37,749
Median age	39.8 yrs	36.3 yrs
Median household income	$129,399	$111,447
Median home value	$525,200	$410,600
Median gross rent	$1,621	$1,646
Housing units	72,634	14,124
Homeownership rate	66.3%	74.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	70.2%	52.9%
Unemployment rate	3.4%	3.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Cary	Fuquay-Varina
Population	166,268 → 176,686 (+6.3%)	27,426 → 37,749 (+37.6%)
Median household income	$104,669 → $129,399 (+23.6%)	$79,000 → $111,447 (+41.1%)
Median home value	$356,400 → $525,200 (+47.4%)	$255,900 → $410,600 (+60.5%)
Median gross rent	$1,246 → $1,621 (+30.1%)	$1,160 → $1,646 (+41.9%)

Cary

Population

166,268176,686

Median household income

$104,669$129,399

Median home value

$356,400$525,200

Median gross rent

$1,246$1,621

Fuquay-Varina

Population

27,42637,749

Median household income

$79,000$111,447

Median home value

$255,900$410,600

Median gross rent

$1,160$1,646

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Cary	Fuquay-Varina
Under 5	5.1%	7.4%
5 to 17	19.0%	20.4%
18 to 24	7.2%	7.3%
25 to 34	11.7%	13.0%
35 to 44	15.0%	16.3%
45 to 54	15.5%	13.7%
55 to 64	12.7%	8.6%
65 to 74	8.3%	8.4%
75 and over	5.6%	4.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Cary	Fuquay-Varina
White (non-Hispanic)	58.0%	67.2%
Black or African American	7.3%	15.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	20.4%	3.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.8%	0.7%
Two or more races	4.0%	4.8%
Hispanic or Latino	9.3%	8.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Cary	Fuquay-Varina
No high school diploma	3.7%	3.5%
High school graduate	8.0%	15.0%
Some college or associate's	18.1%	28.6%
Bachelor's degree	37.4%	37.6%
Graduate or professional degree	32.9%	15.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Cary	Fuquay-Varina
Drove alone	59.3%	64.5%
Carpooled	5.2%	6.7%
Public transit	0.4%	0.2%
Walked	1.2%	1.5%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.1%
Worked from home	32.4%	26.4%
Other means	1.3%	0.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Cary	Fuquay-Varina
1-unit, detached	59.5%	80.4%
1-unit, attached	12.8%	3.8%
2 to 4 units	2.2%	1.6%
5 to 19 units	13.9%	7.4%
20 or more units	10.9%	6.3%
Mobile home & other	0.8%	0.4%

Poverty & households

	Cary	Fuquay-Varina
Poverty rate	5.3%	8.8%
Average household size	2.59	2.78
Mean commute (minutes)	23	32
Median year structure built	1999	2010