Caldwell County vs Surry County

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

Caldwell County and Surry 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 71,407 in Surry County). Surry County has the higher median household income ($56,095 vs $55,401 in Caldwell County). Caldwell County has the higher median home value ($174,000 vs $166,400 in Surry County).

Population, income & housing

	Caldwell County	Surry County
Population	80,618	71,407
Median age	45.5 yrs	43.7 yrs
Median household income	$55,401	$56,095
Median home value	$174,000	$166,400
Median gross rent	$735	$741
Housing units	37,231	33,609
Homeownership rate	74.0%	73.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	18.6%	19.4%
Unemployment rate	4.8%	5.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Caldwell County	Surry County
Population	81,884 → 80,618 (-1.5%)	71,971 → 71,407 (-0.8%)
Median household income	$44,511 → $55,401 (+24.5%)	$43,597 → $56,095 (+28.7%)
Median home value	$118,100 → $174,000 (+47.3%)	$126,900 → $166,400 (+31.1%)
Median gross rent	$645 → $735 (+14.0%)	$628 → $741 (+18.0%)

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

Surry County

Population

71,97171,407

Median household income

$43,597$56,095

Median home value

$126,900$166,400

Median gross rent

$628$741

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Caldwell County	Surry County
Under 5	4.9%	5.2%
5 to 17	15.0%	15.9%
18 to 24	7.7%	7.8%
25 to 34	11.3%	11.2%
35 to 44	10.5%	11.3%
45 to 54	14.7%	13.2%
55 to 64	14.7%	14.6%
65 to 74	12.7%	12.0%
75 and over	8.4%	8.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Caldwell County	Surry County
White (non-Hispanic)	85.7%	81.6%
Black or African American	4.1%	3.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	0.5%	0.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.1%
Some other race	0.1%	0.2%
Two or more races	3.1%	1.8%
Hispanic or Latino	6.4%	12.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Caldwell County	Surry County
No high school diploma	17.2%	17.4%
High school graduate	31.7%	28.5%
Some college or associate's	32.5%	34.7%
Bachelor's degree	13.0%	13.0%
Graduate or professional degree	5.6%	6.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Caldwell County	Surry County
Drove alone	81.5%	80.9%
Carpooled	10.6%	12.1%
Public transit	0.0%	0.1%
Walked	0.7%	0.9%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.1%
Worked from home	6.3%	5.5%
Other means	1.0%	0.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Caldwell County	Surry County
1-unit, detached	72.2%	66.4%
1-unit, attached	1.0%	1.4%
2 to 4 units	5.7%	4.1%
5 to 19 units	3.3%	3.4%
20 or more units	1.5%	1.9%
Mobile home & other	16.4%	22.8%

Poverty & households

	Caldwell County	Surry County
Poverty rate	12.7%	16.7%
Average household size	2.43	2.40
Mean commute (minutes)	27	25
Median year structure built	1981	1980