Burke County vs Lincoln County

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

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

Lincoln County has the higher population (90,359 vs 87,863 in Burke County). Lincoln County has the higher median household income ($78,490 vs $55,684 in Burke County). Lincoln County has the higher median home value ($279,500 vs $170,500 in Burke County).

Population, income & housing

	Burke County	Lincoln County
Population	87,863	90,359
Median age	44.9 yrs	44.3 yrs
Median household income	$55,684	$78,490
Median home value	$170,500	$279,500
Median gross rent	$805	$977
Housing units	40,058	38,589
Homeownership rate	74.8%	78.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.2%	27.0%
Unemployment rate	4.8%	3.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Burke County	Lincoln County
Population	89,968 → 87,863 (-2.3%)	82,919 → 90,359 (+9.0%)
Median household income	$44,557 → $55,684 (+25.0%)	$57,536 → $78,490 (+36.4%)
Median home value	$120,700 → $170,500 (+41.3%)	$172,000 → $279,500 (+62.5%)
Median gross rent	$648 → $805 (+24.2%)	$727 → $977 (+34.4%)

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

Lincoln County

Population

82,91990,359

Median household income

$57,536$78,490

Median home value

$172,000$279,500

Median gross rent

$727$977

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Burke County	Lincoln County
Under 5	4.8%	5.0%
5 to 17	13.8%	15.7%
18 to 24	7.9%	7.1%
25 to 34	12.1%	11.2%
35 to 44	11.5%	12.1%
45 to 54	13.3%	14.6%
55 to 64	15.3%	15.2%
65 to 74	12.2%	11.6%
75 and over	9.1%	7.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Burke County	Lincoln County
White (non-Hispanic)	79.3%	82.8%
Black or African American	5.9%	5.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	3.3%	0.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.2%
Two or more races	2.5%	2.4%
Hispanic or Latino	8.2%	7.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Burke County	Lincoln County
No high school diploma	14.9%	10.0%
High school graduate	33.1%	29.3%
Some college or associate's	31.9%	33.7%
Bachelor's degree	12.8%	19.4%
Graduate or professional degree	7.3%	7.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Burke County	Lincoln County
Drove alone	83.4%	79.1%
Carpooled	9.9%	6.2%
Public transit	0.1%	0.2%
Walked	0.5%	0.7%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.0%
Worked from home	5.4%	12.0%
Other means	0.6%	1.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Burke County	Lincoln County
1-unit, detached	70.7%	74.1%
1-unit, attached	1.0%	2.1%
2 to 4 units	4.5%	3.9%
5 to 19 units	3.8%	2.4%
20 or more units	1.1%	1.2%
Mobile home & other	18.9%	16.3%

Poverty & households

	Burke County	Lincoln County
Poverty rate	17.9%	9.0%
Average household size	2.37	2.51
Mean commute (minutes)	24	30
Median year structure built	1980	1993