Chowan County vs Swain County

A side-by-side comparison of Chowan County and Swain County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Swain County has the higher population (14,065 vs 13,814 in Chowan County). Chowan County has the higher median household income ($56,982 vs $55,429 in Swain County). Swain County has the higher median home value ($209,800 vs $204,400 in Chowan County).

Population, income & housing

	Chowan County	Swain County
Population	13,814	14,065
Median age	47.9 yrs	42.6 yrs
Median household income	$56,982	$55,429
Median home value	$204,400	$209,800
Median gross rent	$766	$715
Housing units	7,169	8,529
Homeownership rate	69.7%	73.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	24.5%	21.3%
Unemployment rate	5.9%	8.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Chowan County	Swain County
Population	14,097 → 13,814 (-2.0%)	14,260 → 14,065 (-1.4%)
Median household income	$46,519 → $56,982 (+22.5%)	$39,317 → $55,429 (+41.0%)
Median home value	$131,100 → $204,400 (+55.9%)	$139,100 → $209,800 (+50.8%)
Median gross rent	$798 → $766 (-4.0%)	$642 → $715 (+11.4%)

Chowan County

Population

14,09713,814

Median household income

$46,519$56,982

Median home value

$131,100$204,400

Median gross rent

$798$766

Swain County

Population

14,26014,065

Median household income

$39,317$55,429

Median home value

$139,100$209,800

Median gross rent

$642$715

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Chowan County	Swain County
Under 5	4.6%	4.9%
5 to 17	14.9%	17.2%
18 to 24	4.5%	8.7%
25 to 34	12.0%	11.3%
35 to 44	10.9%	11.7%
45 to 54	11.5%	13.0%
55 to 64	14.3%	13.5%
65 to 74	16.9%	11.4%
75 and over	10.4%	8.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Chowan County	Swain County
White (non-Hispanic)	60.0%	60.3%
Black or African American	32.9%	1.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	28.2%
Asian	0.1%	0.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.9%	4.4%
Hispanic or Latino	3.9%	5.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Chowan County	Swain County
No high school diploma	12.6%	12.9%
High school graduate	35.1%	35.2%
Some college or associate's	27.7%	30.7%
Bachelor's degree	14.2%	12.3%
Graduate or professional degree	10.3%	9.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Chowan County	Swain County
Drove alone	81.4%	81.6%
Carpooled	8.7%	8.6%
Public transit	0.0%	1.3%
Walked	2.5%	1.2%
Bicycle	0.8%	0.0%
Worked from home	5.9%	5.4%
Other means	0.7%	1.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Chowan County	Swain County
1-unit, detached	71.4%	67.1%
1-unit, attached	0.5%	0.8%
2 to 4 units	5.8%	3.6%
5 to 19 units	1.9%	2.0%
20 or more units	0.6%	0.2%
Mobile home & other	19.9%	26.2%

Poverty & households

	Chowan County	Swain County
Poverty rate	20.5%	21.1%
Average household size	2.26	2.35
Mean commute (minutes)	29	21
Median year structure built	1979	1989