Cleveland County vs Lincoln County

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

Cleveland 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.

Cleveland County has the higher population (100,170 vs 90,359 in Lincoln County). Lincoln County has the higher median household income ($78,490 vs $55,769 in Cleveland County). Lincoln County has the higher median home value ($279,500 vs $180,200 in Cleveland County).

Population, income & housing

	Cleveland County	Lincoln County
Population	100,170	90,359
Median age	41.2 yrs	44.3 yrs
Median household income	$55,769	$78,490
Median home value	$180,200	$279,500
Median gross rent	$835	$977
Housing units	43,999	38,589
Homeownership rate	70.7%	78.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	21.1%	27.0%
Unemployment rate	5.7%	3.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Cleveland County	Lincoln County
Population	97,282 → 100,170 (+3.0%)	82,919 → 90,359 (+9.0%)
Median household income	$42,247 → $55,769 (+32.0%)	$57,536 → $78,490 (+36.4%)
Median home value	$120,100 → $180,200 (+50.0%)	$172,000 → $279,500 (+62.5%)
Median gross rent	$696 → $835 (+20.0%)	$727 → $977 (+34.4%)

Cleveland County

Population

97,282100,170

Median household income

$42,247$55,769

Median home value

$120,100$180,200

Median gross rent

$696$835

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)

	Cleveland County	Lincoln County
Under 5	5.8%	5.0%
5 to 17	16.5%	15.7%
18 to 24	8.6%	7.1%
25 to 34	12.8%	11.2%
35 to 44	10.8%	12.1%
45 to 54	12.6%	14.6%
55 to 64	14.0%	15.2%
65 to 74	11.3%	11.6%
75 and over	7.4%	7.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Cleveland County	Lincoln County
White (non-Hispanic)	71.0%	82.8%
Black or African American	18.4%	5.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.2%
Asian	0.9%	0.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.2%
Two or more races	4.8%	2.4%
Hispanic or Latino	4.4%	7.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Cleveland County	Lincoln County
No high school diploma	12.5%	10.0%
High school graduate	33.8%	29.3%
Some college or associate's	32.6%	33.7%
Bachelor's degree	13.5%	19.4%
Graduate or professional degree	7.6%	7.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Cleveland County	Lincoln County
Drove alone	82.2%	79.1%
Carpooled	8.7%	6.2%
Public transit	0.0%	0.2%
Walked	2.0%	0.7%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	6.2%	12.0%
Other means	0.8%	1.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Cleveland County	Lincoln County
1-unit, detached	70.2%	74.1%
1-unit, attached	1.1%	2.1%
2 to 4 units	5.3%	3.9%
5 to 19 units	3.7%	2.4%
20 or more units	1.4%	1.2%
Mobile home & other	18.3%	16.3%

Poverty & households

	Cleveland County	Lincoln County
Poverty rate	17.2%	9.0%
Average household size	2.64	2.51
Mean commute (minutes)	25	30
Median year structure built	1979	1993