Cherokee County vs Transylvania County

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

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

Transylvania County has the higher population (33,243 vs 29,197 in Cherokee County). Transylvania County has the higher median household income ($64,523 vs $51,496 in Cherokee County). Transylvania County has the higher median home value ($336,100 vs $208,700 in Cherokee County).

Population, income & housing

	Cherokee County	Transylvania County
Population	29,197	33,243
Median age	53.3 yrs	51.9 yrs
Median household income	$51,496	$64,523
Median home value	$208,700	$336,100
Median gross rent	$800	$909
Housing units	18,182	19,147
Homeownership rate	83.6%	75.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	24.2%	38.6%
Unemployment rate	5.4%	3.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Cherokee County	Transylvania County
Population	27,969 → 29,197 (+4.4%)	33,775 → 33,243 (-1.6%)
Median household income	$41,438 → $51,496 (+24.3%)	$50,212 → $64,523 (+28.5%)
Median home value	$159,100 → $208,700 (+31.2%)	$221,900 → $336,100 (+51.5%)
Median gross rent	$724 → $800 (+10.5%)	$756 → $909 (+20.2%)

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

Transylvania County

Population

33,77533,243

Median household income

$50,212$64,523

Median home value

$221,900$336,100

Median gross rent

$756$909

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Cherokee County	Transylvania County
Under 5	3.8%	4.0%
5 to 17	12.3%	11.8%
18 to 24	5.9%	7.4%
25 to 34	8.5%	10.0%
35 to 44	9.5%	9.8%
45 to 54	12.4%	10.7%
55 to 64	16.4%	15.4%
65 to 74	19.2%	16.7%
75 and over	12.0%	14.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Cherokee County	Transylvania County
White (non-Hispanic)	90.1%	88.2%
Black or African American	1.5%	3.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	1.6%	0.1%
Asian	0.5%	0.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.3%
Two or more races	2.6%	2.1%
Hispanic or Latino	3.5%	4.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Cherokee County	Transylvania County
No high school diploma	8.6%	6.2%
High school graduate	32.3%	23.9%
Some college or associate's	35.0%	31.3%
Bachelor's degree	16.1%	23.9%
Graduate or professional degree	8.1%	14.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Cherokee County	Transylvania County
Drove alone	77.5%	76.4%
Carpooled	7.8%	9.1%
Public transit	0.3%	0.4%
Walked	2.1%	2.3%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.7%
Worked from home	10.7%	10.7%
Other means	1.7%	0.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Cherokee County	Transylvania County
1-unit, detached	76.0%	75.4%
1-unit, attached	0.6%	1.6%
2 to 4 units	2.2%	4.1%
5 to 19 units	0.7%	2.5%
20 or more units	0.2%	2.7%
Mobile home & other	20.3%	13.7%

Poverty & households

	Cherokee County	Transylvania County
Poverty rate	14.6%	14.2%
Average household size	2.21	2.20
Mean commute (minutes)	27	23
Median year structure built	1993	1983