Burke County vs Rockingham County

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

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

Rockingham County has the higher population (91,585 vs 87,863 in Burke County). Rockingham County has the higher median household income ($55,796 vs $55,684 in Burke County). Burke County has the higher median home value ($170,500 vs $156,000 in Rockingham County).

Population, income & housing

	Burke County	Rockingham County
Population	87,863	91,585
Median age	44.9 yrs	44.7 yrs
Median household income	$55,684	$55,796
Median home value	$170,500	$156,000
Median gross rent	$805	$789
Housing units	40,058	43,685
Homeownership rate	74.8%	72.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.2%	16.1%
Unemployment rate	4.8%	6.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Burke County	Rockingham County
Population	89,968 → 87,863 (-2.3%)	91,077 → 91,585 (+0.6%)
Median household income	$44,557 → $55,684 (+25.0%)	$43,579 → $55,796 (+28.0%)
Median home value	$120,700 → $170,500 (+41.3%)	$112,800 → $156,000 (+38.3%)
Median gross rent	$648 → $805 (+24.2%)	$672 → $789 (+17.4%)

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

Rockingham County

Population

91,07791,585

Median household income

$43,579$55,796

Median home value

$112,800$156,000

Median gross rent

$672$789

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Burke County	Rockingham County
Under 5	4.8%	5.0%
5 to 17	13.8%	15.5%
18 to 24	7.9%	7.2%
25 to 34	12.1%	11.6%
35 to 44	11.5%	11.1%
45 to 54	13.3%	13.2%
55 to 64	15.3%	15.6%
65 to 74	12.2%	12.3%
75 and over	9.1%	8.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Burke County	Rockingham County
White (non-Hispanic)	79.3%	70.5%
Black or African American	5.9%	17.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	3.3%	0.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.2%
Some other race	0.5%	0.5%
Two or more races	2.5%	4.1%
Hispanic or Latino	8.2%	6.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Burke County	Rockingham County
No high school diploma	14.9%	15.6%
High school graduate	33.1%	34.6%
Some college or associate's	31.9%	33.6%
Bachelor's degree	12.8%	10.9%
Graduate or professional degree	7.3%	5.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Burke County	Rockingham County
Drove alone	83.4%	81.7%
Carpooled	9.9%	9.1%
Public transit	0.1%	0.1%
Walked	0.5%	1.8%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.0%
Worked from home	5.4%	5.0%
Other means	0.6%	2.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Burke County	Rockingham County
1-unit, detached	70.7%	70.9%
1-unit, attached	1.0%	1.1%
2 to 4 units	4.5%	3.2%
5 to 19 units	3.8%	4.6%
20 or more units	1.1%	2.8%
Mobile home & other	18.9%	17.4%

Poverty & households

	Burke County	Rockingham County
Poverty rate	17.9%	16.8%
Average household size	2.37	2.31
Mean commute (minutes)	24	26
Median year structure built	1980	1979