Alexander County vs Dare County

A side-by-side comparison of Alexander County and Dare County: population, income, housing, and more.

Alexander County and Dare County are counties in North Carolina. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Dare County has the higher population (37,534 vs 36,440 in Alexander County). Dare County has the higher median household income ($81,214 vs $65,268 in Alexander County). Dare County has the higher median home value ($425,400 vs $190,000 in Alexander County).

Population, income & housing

	Alexander County	Dare County
Population	36,440	37,534
Median age	43.8 yrs	48.5 yrs
Median household income	$65,268	$81,214
Median home value	$190,000	$425,400
Median gross rent	$745	$1,307
Housing units	16,126	34,839
Homeownership rate	81.7%	77.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.4%	42.8%
Unemployment rate	5.2%	5.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Alexander County	Dare County
Population	37,213 → 36,440 (-2.1%)	36,222 → 37,534 (+3.6%)
Median household income	$48,756 → $65,268 (+33.9%)	$59,381 → $81,214 (+36.8%)
Median home value	$136,500 → $190,000 (+39.2%)	$289,000 → $425,400 (+47.2%)
Median gross rent	$654 → $745 (+13.9%)	$1,089 → $1,307 (+20.0%)

Alexander County

Population

37,21336,440

Median household income

$48,756$65,268

Median home value

$136,500$190,000

Median gross rent

$654$745

Dare County

Population

36,22237,534

Median household income

$59,381$81,214

Median home value

$289,000$425,400

Median gross rent

$1,089$1,307

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Alexander County	Dare County
Under 5	4.9%	4.1%
5 to 17	14.7%	14.0%
18 to 24	8.0%	5.9%
25 to 34	11.8%	8.9%
35 to 44	11.9%	12.1%
45 to 54	13.5%	13.5%
55 to 64	14.7%	17.2%
65 to 74	11.6%	16.1%
75 and over	8.9%	8.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Alexander County	Dare County
White (non-Hispanic)	85.8%	86.0%
Black or African American	4.0%	2.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	1.1%	0.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	0.1%	0.7%
Two or more races	3.7%	2.8%
Hispanic or Latino	5.4%	7.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Alexander County	Dare County
No high school diploma	14.4%	4.8%
High school graduate	39.5%	22.3%
Some college or associate's	30.7%	30.1%
Bachelor's degree	10.4%	29.4%
Graduate or professional degree	5.0%	13.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Alexander County	Dare County
Drove alone	84.1%	73.7%
Carpooled	9.3%	8.1%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.8%	2.1%
Bicycle	0.0%	1.0%
Worked from home	5.4%	14.3%
Other means	0.4%	0.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Alexander County	Dare County
1-unit, detached	71.6%	78.5%
1-unit, attached	0.6%	0.7%
2 to 4 units	1.8%	5.6%
5 to 19 units	1.0%	7.8%
20 or more units	0.1%	1.9%
Mobile home & other	24.8%	5.5%

Poverty & households

	Alexander County	Dare County
Poverty rate	12.1%	7.5%
Average household size	2.51	2.26
Mean commute (minutes)	28	22
Median year structure built	1985	1987