Cary vs Raleigh

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

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

Raleigh has the higher population (470,763 vs 176,686 in Cary). Cary has the higher median household income ($129,399 vs $82,424 in Raleigh). Cary has the higher median home value ($525,200 vs $377,800 in Raleigh).

Population, income & housing

	Cary	Raleigh
Population	176,686	470,763
Median age	39.8 yrs	34.7 yrs
Median household income	$129,399	$82,424
Median home value	$525,200	$377,800
Median gross rent	$1,621	$1,468
Housing units	72,634	218,200
Homeownership rate	66.3%	51.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	70.2%	52.9%
Unemployment rate	3.4%	4.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Cary	Raleigh
Population	166,268 → 176,686 (+6.3%)	464,485 → 470,763 (+1.4%)
Median household income	$104,669 → $129,399 (+23.6%)	$67,266 → $82,424 (+22.5%)
Median home value	$356,400 → $525,200 (+47.4%)	$248,300 → $377,800 (+52.2%)
Median gross rent	$1,246 → $1,621 (+30.1%)	$1,121 → $1,468 (+31.0%)

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

Raleigh

Population

464,485470,763

Median household income

$67,266$82,424

Median home value

$248,300$377,800

Median gross rent

$1,121$1,468

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Cary	Raleigh
Under 5	5.1%	5.7%
5 to 17	19.0%	14.5%
18 to 24	7.2%	11.6%
25 to 34	11.7%	18.8%
35 to 44	15.0%	14.4%
45 to 54	15.5%	13.0%
55 to 64	12.7%	10.4%
65 to 74	8.3%	7.1%
75 and over	5.6%	4.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Cary	Raleigh
White (non-Hispanic)	58.0%	51.4%
Black or African American	7.3%	27.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	20.4%	4.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.8%	0.4%
Two or more races	4.0%	3.5%
Hispanic or Latino	9.3%	12.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Cary	Raleigh
No high school diploma	3.7%	7.5%
High school graduate	8.0%	15.9%
Some college or associate's	18.1%	23.6%
Bachelor's degree	37.4%	32.5%
Graduate or professional degree	32.9%	20.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Cary	Raleigh
Drove alone	59.3%	65.1%
Carpooled	5.2%	6.6%
Public transit	0.4%	1.3%
Walked	1.2%	1.6%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.4%
Worked from home	32.4%	23.4%
Other means	1.3%	1.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Cary	Raleigh
1-unit, detached	59.5%	43.8%
1-unit, attached	12.8%	14.4%
2 to 4 units	2.2%	5.7%
5 to 19 units	13.9%	17.7%
20 or more units	10.9%	17.1%
Mobile home & other	0.8%	1.3%

Poverty & households

	Cary	Raleigh
Poverty rate	5.3%	11.4%
Average household size	2.59	2.30
Mean commute (minutes)	23	23
Median year structure built	1999	1996