Bertie County vs Polk County

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

Bertie 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 17,482 in Bertie County). Polk County has the higher median household income ($61,005 vs $45,931 in Bertie County). Polk County has the higher median home value ($281,100 vs $95,800 in Bertie County).

Population, income & housing

	Bertie County	Polk County
Population	17,482	19,689
Median age	45.9 yrs	54.4 yrs
Median household income	$45,931	$61,005
Median home value	$95,800	$281,100
Median gross rent	$824	$1,089
Housing units	8,988	10,949
Homeownership rate	74.5%	76.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	17.8%	32.9%
Unemployment rate	8.4%	4.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Bertie County	Polk County
Population	19,380 → 17,482 (-9.8%)	20,557 → 19,689 (-4.2%)
Median household income	$35,527 → $45,931 (+29.3%)	$48,787 → $61,005 (+25.0%)
Median home value	$82,200 → $95,800 (+16.5%)	$225,700 → $281,100 (+24.5%)
Median gross rent	$638 → $824 (+29.2%)	$851 → $1,089 (+28.0%)

Bertie County

Population

19,38017,482

Median household income

$35,527$45,931

Median home value

$82,200$95,800

Median gross rent

$638$824

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)

	Bertie County	Polk County
Under 5	4.1%	3.6%
5 to 17	12.3%	12.0%
18 to 24	7.7%	5.4%
25 to 34	13.5%	8.6%
35 to 44	11.0%	10.1%
45 to 54	11.7%	11.9%
55 to 64	15.4%	16.5%
65 to 74	14.4%	16.8%
75 and over	9.8%	15.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Bertie County	Polk County
White (non-Hispanic)	34.3%	87.2%
Black or African American	60.0%	5.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.2%
Asian	0.8%	0.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.2%
Two or more races	2.3%	1.8%
Hispanic or Latino	2.2%	5.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Bertie County	Polk County
No high school diploma	18.0%	8.1%
High school graduate	35.6%	27.2%
Some college or associate's	28.5%	31.8%
Bachelor's degree	11.1%	20.3%
Graduate or professional degree	6.8%	12.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Bertie County	Polk County
Drove alone	82.5%	74.6%
Carpooled	9.0%	11.0%
Public transit	0.6%	0.0%
Walked	1.3%	1.9%
Bicycle	0.7%	0.0%
Worked from home	3.7%	12.1%
Other means	2.3%	0.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Bertie County	Polk County
1-unit, detached	66.5%	78.8%
1-unit, attached	0.2%	1.5%
2 to 4 units	1.7%	2.6%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	2.5%
20 or more units	0.5%	3.0%
Mobile home & other	31.0%	11.6%

Poverty & households

	Bertie County	Polk County
Poverty rate	19.8%	13.7%
Average household size	2.26	2.22
Mean commute (minutes)	26	28
Median year structure built	1980	1982