Buncombe County vs New Hanover County

A side-by-side comparison of Buncombe County and New Hanover County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Buncombe County has the higher population (271,790 vs 231,214 in New Hanover County). New Hanover County has the higher median household income ($72,892 vs $70,578 in Buncombe County). Buncombe County has the higher median home value ($360,000 vs $353,700 in New Hanover County).

Population, income & housing

	Buncombe County	New Hanover County
Population	271,790	231,214
Median age	42.4 yrs	40.1 yrs
Median household income	$70,578	$72,892
Median home value	$360,000	$353,700
Median gross rent	$1,281	$1,343
Housing units	132,191	117,236
Homeownership rate	64.4%	60.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	44.6%	44.8%
Unemployment rate	3.5%	4.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Buncombe County	New Hanover County
Population	256,886 → 271,790 (+5.8%)	227,938 → 231,214 (+1.4%)
Median household income	$52,207 → $70,578 (+35.2%)	$54,891 → $72,892 (+32.8%)
Median home value	$238,200 → $360,000 (+51.1%)	$243,600 → $353,700 (+45.2%)
Median gross rent	$975 → $1,281 (+31.4%)	$1,031 → $1,343 (+30.3%)

Buncombe County

Population

256,886271,790

Median household income

$52,207$70,578

Median home value

$238,200$360,000

Median gross rent

$975$1,281

New Hanover County

Population

227,938231,214

Median household income

$54,891$72,892

Median home value

$243,600$353,700

Median gross rent

$1,031$1,343

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Buncombe County	New Hanover County
Under 5	4.6%	4.7%
5 to 17	13.5%	13.6%
18 to 24	7.5%	12.1%
25 to 34	13.7%	13.1%
35 to 44	13.9%	12.6%
45 to 54	12.7%	12.3%
55 to 64	13.3%	13.0%
65 to 74	12.4%	11.3%
75 and over	8.4%	7.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Buncombe County	New Hanover County
White (non-Hispanic)	81.2%	75.1%
Black or African American	5.4%	11.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	1.1%	1.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.6%
Two or more races	3.5%	4.0%
Hispanic or Latino	8.3%	7.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Buncombe County	New Hanover County
No high school diploma	7.7%	6.4%
High school graduate	22.7%	18.0%
Some college or associate's	25.0%	30.8%
Bachelor's degree	26.5%	29.1%
Graduate or professional degree	18.2%	15.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Buncombe County	New Hanover County
Drove alone	72.6%	72.4%
Carpooled	6.9%	6.8%
Public transit	0.8%	0.2%
Walked	2.1%	1.4%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.5%
Worked from home	16.2%	17.8%
Other means	1.2%	0.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Buncombe County	New Hanover County
1-unit, detached	63.8%	61.0%
1-unit, attached	2.8%	5.6%
2 to 4 units	5.2%	8.0%
5 to 19 units	10.2%	12.3%
20 or more units	5.8%	10.4%
Mobile home & other	12.2%	2.8%

Poverty & households

	Buncombe County	New Hanover County
Poverty rate	11.8%	12.4%
Average household size	2.58	2.20
Mean commute (minutes)	21	21
Median year structure built	1989	1992