Caldwell County vs Franklin County

A side-by-side comparison of Caldwell County and Franklin County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Caldwell County has the higher population (80,618 vs 71,962 in Franklin County). Franklin County has the higher median household income ($71,386 vs $55,401 in Caldwell County). Franklin County has the higher median home value ($240,900 vs $174,000 in Caldwell County).

Population, income & housing

	Caldwell County	Franklin County
Population	80,618	71,962
Median age	45.5 yrs	40.9 yrs
Median household income	$55,401	$71,386
Median home value	$174,000	$240,900
Median gross rent	$735	$988
Housing units	37,231	30,790
Homeownership rate	74.0%	78.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	18.6%	24.4%
Unemployment rate	4.8%	5.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Caldwell County	Franklin County
Population	81,884 → 80,618 (-1.5%)	66,362 → 71,962 (+8.4%)
Median household income	$44,511 → $55,401 (+24.5%)	$55,193 → $71,386 (+29.3%)
Median home value	$118,100 → $174,000 (+47.3%)	$150,400 → $240,900 (+60.2%)
Median gross rent	$645 → $735 (+14.0%)	$829 → $988 (+19.2%)

Caldwell County

Population

81,88480,618

Median household income

$44,511$55,401

Median home value

$118,100$174,000

Median gross rent

$645$735

Franklin County

Population

66,36271,962

Median household income

$55,193$71,386

Median home value

$150,400$240,900

Median gross rent

$829$988

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Caldwell County	Franklin County
Under 5	4.9%	5.6%
5 to 17	15.0%	16.3%
18 to 24	7.7%	8.2%
25 to 34	11.3%	12.2%
35 to 44	10.5%	12.6%
45 to 54	14.7%	13.6%
55 to 64	14.7%	14.6%
65 to 74	12.7%	10.7%
75 and over	8.4%	6.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Caldwell County	Franklin County
White (non-Hispanic)	85.7%	61.1%
Black or African American	4.1%	22.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	0.5%	0.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.3%
Two or more races	3.1%	4.1%
Hispanic or Latino	6.4%	10.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Caldwell County	Franklin County
No high school diploma	17.2%	12.3%
High school graduate	31.7%	29.3%
Some college or associate's	32.5%	33.9%
Bachelor's degree	13.0%	16.9%
Graduate or professional degree	5.6%	7.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Caldwell County	Franklin County
Drove alone	81.5%	79.6%
Carpooled	10.6%	8.9%
Public transit	0.0%	0.1%
Walked	0.7%	0.5%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	6.3%	10.3%
Other means	1.0%	0.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Caldwell County	Franklin County
1-unit, detached	72.2%	71.7%
1-unit, attached	1.0%	0.6%
2 to 4 units	5.7%	1.6%
5 to 19 units	3.3%	1.8%
20 or more units	1.5%	0.9%
Mobile home & other	16.4%	23.5%

Poverty & households

	Caldwell County	Franklin County
Poverty rate	12.7%	10.1%
Average household size	2.43	2.57
Mean commute (minutes)	27	34
Median year structure built	1981	1995