Avery County vs Polk County

A side-by-side comparison of Avery County and Polk County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Polk County has the higher population (19,689 vs 17,643 in Avery County). Polk County has the higher median household income ($61,005 vs $57,657 in Avery County). Polk County has the higher median home value ($281,100 vs $233,200 in Avery County).

Population, income & housing

	Avery County	Polk County
Population	17,643	19,689
Median age	46.5 yrs	54.4 yrs
Median household income	$57,657	$61,005
Median home value	$233,200	$281,100
Median gross rent	$791	$1,089
Housing units	14,051	10,949
Homeownership rate	80.0%	76.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	21.9%	32.9%
Unemployment rate	4.8%	4.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Avery County	Polk County
Population	17,506 → 17,643 (+0.8%)	20,557 → 19,689 (-4.2%)
Median household income	$40,340 → $57,657 (+42.9%)	$48,787 → $61,005 (+25.0%)
Median home value	$144,000 → $233,200 (+61.9%)	$225,700 → $281,100 (+24.5%)
Median gross rent	$777 → $791 (+1.8%)	$851 → $1,089 (+28.0%)

Avery County

Population

17,50617,643

Median household income

$40,340$57,657

Median home value

$144,000$233,200

Median gross rent

$777$791

Polk County

Population

20,55719,689

Median household income

$48,787$61,005

Median home value

$225,700$281,100

Median gross rent

$851$1,089

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Avery County	Polk County
Under 5	3.8%	3.6%
5 to 17	10.7%	12.0%
18 to 24	8.9%	5.4%
25 to 34	12.3%	8.6%
35 to 44	12.2%	10.1%
45 to 54	14.1%	11.9%
55 to 64	14.9%	16.5%
65 to 74	13.7%	16.8%
75 and over	9.3%	15.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Avery County	Polk County
White (non-Hispanic)	87.0%	87.2%
Black or African American	4.2%	5.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.2%
Asian	0.4%	0.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.2%
Two or more races	2.2%	1.8%
Hispanic or Latino	5.7%	5.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Avery County	Polk County
No high school diploma	13.6%	8.1%
High school graduate	32.0%	27.2%
Some college or associate's	32.5%	31.8%
Bachelor's degree	13.7%	20.3%
Graduate or professional degree	8.2%	12.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Avery County	Polk County
Drove alone	80.5%	74.6%
Carpooled	8.1%	11.0%
Public transit	0.5%	0.0%
Walked	2.2%	1.9%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	7.0%	12.1%
Other means	1.6%	0.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Avery County	Polk County
1-unit, detached	67.5%	78.8%
1-unit, attached	0.6%	1.5%
2 to 4 units	8.7%	2.6%
5 to 19 units	5.1%	2.5%
20 or more units	6.2%	3.0%
Mobile home & other	11.8%	11.6%

Poverty & households

	Avery County	Polk County
Poverty rate	11.0%	13.7%
Average household size	2.27	2.22
Mean commute (minutes)	22	28
Median year structure built	1985	1982