Caldwell County vs Lincoln County

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

Caldwell 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 80,618 in Caldwell County). Lincoln County has the higher median household income ($78,490 vs $55,401 in Caldwell County). Lincoln County has the higher median home value ($279,500 vs $174,000 in Caldwell County).

Population, income & housing

	Caldwell County	Lincoln County
Population	80,618	90,359
Median age	45.5 yrs	44.3 yrs
Median household income	$55,401	$78,490
Median home value	$174,000	$279,500
Median gross rent	$735	$977
Housing units	37,231	38,589
Homeownership rate	74.0%	78.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	18.6%	27.0%
Unemployment rate	4.8%	3.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Caldwell County	Lincoln County
Population	81,884 → 80,618 (-1.5%)	82,919 → 90,359 (+9.0%)
Median household income	$44,511 → $55,401 (+24.5%)	$57,536 → $78,490 (+36.4%)
Median home value	$118,100 → $174,000 (+47.3%)	$172,000 → $279,500 (+62.5%)
Median gross rent	$645 → $735 (+14.0%)	$727 → $977 (+34.4%)

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

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)

	Caldwell County	Lincoln County
Under 5	4.9%	5.0%
5 to 17	15.0%	15.7%
18 to 24	7.7%	7.1%
25 to 34	11.3%	11.2%
35 to 44	10.5%	12.1%
45 to 54	14.7%	14.6%
55 to 64	14.7%	15.2%
65 to 74	12.7%	11.6%
75 and over	8.4%	7.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Caldwell County	Lincoln County
White (non-Hispanic)	85.7%	82.8%
Black or African American	4.1%	5.8%
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%	0.2%
Two or more races	3.1%	2.4%
Hispanic or Latino	6.4%	7.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Caldwell County	Lincoln County
No high school diploma	17.2%	10.0%
High school graduate	31.7%	29.3%
Some college or associate's	32.5%	33.7%
Bachelor's degree	13.0%	19.4%
Graduate or professional degree	5.6%	7.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Caldwell County	Lincoln County
Drove alone	81.5%	79.1%
Carpooled	10.6%	6.2%
Public transit	0.0%	0.2%
Walked	0.7%	0.7%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	6.3%	12.0%
Other means	1.0%	1.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Caldwell County	Lincoln County
1-unit, detached	72.2%	74.1%
1-unit, attached	1.0%	2.1%
2 to 4 units	5.7%	3.9%
5 to 19 units	3.3%	2.4%
20 or more units	1.5%	1.2%
Mobile home & other	16.4%	16.3%

Poverty & households

	Caldwell County	Lincoln County
Poverty rate	12.7%	9.0%
Average household size	2.43	2.51
Mean commute (minutes)	27	30
Median year structure built	1981	1993