Garner vs Wake Forest

A side-by-side comparison of Garner and Wake Forest: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Wake Forest has the higher population (51,199 vs 32,543 in Garner). Wake Forest has the higher median household income ($120,777 vs $77,496 in Garner). Wake Forest has the higher median home value ($435,000 vs $320,300 in Garner).

Population, income & housing

	Garner	Wake Forest
Population	32,543	51,199
Median age	37.6 yrs	38.8 yrs
Median household income	$77,496	$120,777
Median home value	$320,300	$435,000
Median gross rent	$1,452	$1,458
Housing units	13,961	18,824
Homeownership rate	64.8%	74.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	45.8%	57.8%
Unemployment rate	6.8%	4.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Garner	Wake Forest
Population	29,462 → 32,543 (+10.5%)	42,111 → 51,199 (+21.6%)
Median household income	$65,064 → $77,496 (+19.1%)	$92,210 → $120,777 (+31.0%)
Median home value	$190,000 → $320,300 (+68.6%)	$297,300 → $435,000 (+46.3%)
Median gross rent	$1,122 → $1,452 (+29.4%)	$1,117 → $1,458 (+30.5%)

Garner

Population

29,46232,543

Median household income

$65,064$77,496

Median home value

$190,000$320,300

Median gross rent

$1,122$1,452

Wake Forest

Population

42,11151,199

Median household income

$92,210$120,777

Median home value

$297,300$435,000

Median gross rent

$1,117$1,458

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Garner	Wake Forest
Under 5	5.7%	7.0%
5 to 17	15.4%	20.1%
18 to 24	8.5%	6.5%
25 to 34	16.3%	11.9%
35 to 44	14.0%	15.2%
45 to 54	12.8%	16.3%
55 to 64	11.6%	9.7%
65 to 74	8.8%	7.8%
75 and over	6.9%	5.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Garner	Wake Forest
White (non-Hispanic)	55.2%	65.6%
Black or African American	25.9%	19.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.5%	0.1%
Asian	1.7%	2.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.7%	0.3%
Two or more races	4.2%	4.1%
Hispanic or Latino	11.9%	7.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Garner	Wake Forest
No high school diploma	5.3%	4.2%
High school graduate	19.8%	13.2%
Some college or associate's	29.1%	24.8%
Bachelor's degree	28.3%	35.3%
Graduate or professional degree	17.4%	22.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Garner	Wake Forest
Drove alone	71.2%	68.5%
Carpooled	6.5%	4.5%
Public transit	0.1%	0.1%
Walked	1.4%	0.9%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.0%
Worked from home	19.6%	25.1%
Other means	1.1%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Garner	Wake Forest
1-unit, detached	65.9%	68.1%
1-unit, attached	4.2%	10.9%
2 to 4 units	3.8%	3.7%
5 to 19 units	13.2%	8.9%
20 or more units	11.9%	6.7%
Mobile home & other	1.1%	1.7%

Poverty & households

	Garner	Wake Forest
Poverty rate	7.3%	2.9%
Average household size	2.49	2.82
Mean commute (minutes)	27	31
Median year structure built	2000	2007