Cherokee County vs Montgomery County

A side-by-side comparison of Cherokee County and Montgomery County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Cherokee County has the higher population (29,197 vs 25,874 in Montgomery County). Montgomery County has the higher median household income ($55,849 vs $51,496 in Cherokee County). Cherokee County has the higher median home value ($208,700 vs $150,300 in Montgomery County).

Population, income & housing

	Cherokee County	Montgomery County
Population	29,197	25,874
Median age	53.3 yrs	43.6 yrs
Median household income	$51,496	$55,849
Median home value	$208,700	$150,300
Median gross rent	$800	$753
Housing units	18,182	14,930
Homeownership rate	83.6%	73.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	24.2%	19.3%
Unemployment rate	5.4%	2.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Cherokee County	Montgomery County
Population	27,969 → 29,197 (+4.4%)	27,252 → 25,874 (-5.1%)
Median household income	$41,438 → $51,496 (+24.3%)	$44,146 → $55,849 (+26.5%)
Median home value	$159,100 → $208,700 (+31.2%)	$117,700 → $150,300 (+27.7%)
Median gross rent	$724 → $800 (+10.5%)	$576 → $753 (+30.7%)

Cherokee County

Population

27,96929,197

Median household income

$41,438$51,496

Median home value

$159,100$208,700

Median gross rent

$724$800

Montgomery County

Population

27,25225,874

Median household income

$44,146$55,849

Median home value

$117,700$150,300

Median gross rent

$576$753

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Cherokee County	Montgomery County
Under 5	3.8%	5.1%
5 to 17	12.3%	15.8%
18 to 24	5.9%	7.2%
25 to 34	8.5%	12.8%
35 to 44	9.5%	10.8%
45 to 54	12.4%	12.1%
55 to 64	16.4%	14.5%
65 to 74	19.2%	13.0%
75 and over	12.0%	8.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Cherokee County	Montgomery County
White (non-Hispanic)	90.1%	62.8%
Black or African American	1.5%	16.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	1.6%	0.4%
Asian	0.5%	1.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.4%
Two or more races	2.6%	3.0%
Hispanic or Latino	3.5%	15.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Cherokee County	Montgomery County
No high school diploma	8.6%	16.0%
High school graduate	32.3%	33.6%
Some college or associate's	35.0%	31.1%
Bachelor's degree	16.1%	12.8%
Graduate or professional degree	8.1%	6.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Cherokee County	Montgomery County
Drove alone	77.5%	83.3%
Carpooled	7.8%	8.5%
Public transit	0.3%	0.0%
Walked	2.1%	1.4%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	10.7%	5.7%
Other means	1.7%	1.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Cherokee County	Montgomery County
1-unit, detached	76.0%	65.7%
1-unit, attached	0.6%	0.1%
2 to 4 units	2.2%	3.9%
5 to 19 units	0.7%	1.7%
20 or more units	0.2%	0.2%
Mobile home & other	20.3%	28.4%

Poverty & households

	Cherokee County	Montgomery County
Poverty rate	14.6%	16.1%
Average household size	2.21	2.49
Mean commute (minutes)	27	27
Median year structure built	1993	1983