Burke County vs Chatham County

A side-by-side comparison of Burke County and Chatham County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Burke County has the higher population (87,863 vs 78,319 in Chatham County). Chatham County has the higher median household income ($88,534 vs $55,684 in Burke County). Chatham County has the higher median home value ($397,800 vs $170,500 in Burke County).

Population, income & housing

	Burke County	Chatham County
Population	87,863	78,319
Median age	44.9 yrs	47.6 yrs
Median household income	$55,684	$88,534
Median home value	$170,500	$397,800
Median gross rent	$805	$1,066
Housing units	40,058	35,013
Homeownership rate	74.8%	80.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.2%	48.0%
Unemployment rate	4.8%	3.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Burke County	Chatham County
Population	89,968 → 87,863 (-2.3%)	71,338 → 78,319 (+9.8%)
Median household income	$44,557 → $55,684 (+25.0%)	$67,031 → $88,534 (+32.1%)
Median home value	$120,700 → $170,500 (+41.3%)	$281,700 → $397,800 (+41.2%)
Median gross rent	$648 → $805 (+24.2%)	$845 → $1,066 (+26.2%)

Burke County

Population

89,96887,863

Median household income

$44,557$55,684

Median home value

$120,700$170,500

Median gross rent

$648$805

Chatham County

Population

71,33878,319

Median household income

$67,031$88,534

Median home value

$281,700$397,800

Median gross rent

$845$1,066

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Burke County	Chatham County
Under 5	4.8%	4.6%
5 to 17	13.8%	15.1%
18 to 24	7.9%	6.6%
25 to 34	12.1%	9.1%
35 to 44	11.5%	11.3%
45 to 54	13.3%	13.3%
55 to 64	15.3%	15.0%
65 to 74	12.2%	14.2%
75 and over	9.1%	10.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Burke County	Chatham County
White (non-Hispanic)	79.3%	69.8%
Black or African American	5.9%	10.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	3.3%	2.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.6%
Two or more races	2.5%	3.7%
Hispanic or Latino	8.2%	13.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Burke County	Chatham County
No high school diploma	14.9%	9.6%
High school graduate	33.1%	18.0%
Some college or associate's	31.9%	24.3%
Bachelor's degree	12.8%	25.2%
Graduate or professional degree	7.3%	22.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Burke County	Chatham County
Drove alone	83.4%	71.2%
Carpooled	9.9%	5.4%
Public transit	0.1%	0.3%
Walked	0.5%	1.6%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.1%
Worked from home	5.4%	20.1%
Other means	0.6%	1.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Burke County	Chatham County
1-unit, detached	70.7%	76.4%
1-unit, attached	1.0%	3.9%
2 to 4 units	4.5%	2.6%
5 to 19 units	3.8%	2.3%
20 or more units	1.1%	1.7%
Mobile home & other	18.9%	13.1%

Poverty & households

	Burke County	Chatham County
Poverty rate	17.9%	10.5%
Average household size	2.37	2.41
Mean commute (minutes)	24	27
Median year structure built	1980	1997