Cleveland County vs Rockingham County

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

Cleveland County and Rockingham 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 91,585 in Rockingham County). Rockingham County has the higher median household income ($55,796 vs $55,769 in Cleveland County). Cleveland County has the higher median home value ($180,200 vs $156,000 in Rockingham County).

Population, income & housing

	Cleveland County	Rockingham County
Population	100,170	91,585
Median age	41.2 yrs	44.7 yrs
Median household income	$55,769	$55,796
Median home value	$180,200	$156,000
Median gross rent	$835	$789
Housing units	43,999	43,685
Homeownership rate	70.7%	72.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	21.1%	16.1%
Unemployment rate	5.7%	6.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Cleveland County	Rockingham County
Population	97,282 → 100,170 (+3.0%)	91,077 → 91,585 (+0.6%)
Median household income	$42,247 → $55,769 (+32.0%)	$43,579 → $55,796 (+28.0%)
Median home value	$120,100 → $180,200 (+50.0%)	$112,800 → $156,000 (+38.3%)
Median gross rent	$696 → $835 (+20.0%)	$672 → $789 (+17.4%)

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

Rockingham County

Population

91,07791,585

Median household income

$43,579$55,796

Median home value

$112,800$156,000

Median gross rent

$672$789

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Cleveland County	Rockingham County
Under 5	5.8%	5.0%
5 to 17	16.5%	15.5%
18 to 24	8.6%	7.2%
25 to 34	12.8%	11.6%
35 to 44	10.8%	11.1%
45 to 54	12.6%	13.2%
55 to 64	14.0%	15.6%
65 to 74	11.3%	12.3%
75 and over	7.4%	8.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Cleveland County	Rockingham County
White (non-Hispanic)	71.0%	70.5%
Black or African American	18.4%	17.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.2%
Asian	0.9%	0.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.2%
Some other race	0.2%	0.5%
Two or more races	4.8%	4.1%
Hispanic or Latino	4.4%	6.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Cleveland County	Rockingham County
No high school diploma	12.5%	15.6%
High school graduate	33.8%	34.6%
Some college or associate's	32.6%	33.6%
Bachelor's degree	13.5%	10.9%
Graduate or professional degree	7.6%	5.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Cleveland County	Rockingham County
Drove alone	82.2%	81.7%
Carpooled	8.7%	9.1%
Public transit	0.0%	0.1%
Walked	2.0%	1.8%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	6.2%	5.0%
Other means	0.8%	2.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Cleveland County	Rockingham County
1-unit, detached	70.2%	70.9%
1-unit, attached	1.1%	1.1%
2 to 4 units	5.3%	3.2%
5 to 19 units	3.7%	4.6%
20 or more units	1.4%	2.8%
Mobile home & other	18.3%	17.4%

Poverty & households

	Cleveland County	Rockingham County
Poverty rate	17.2%	16.8%
Average household size	2.64	2.31
Mean commute (minutes)	25	26
Median year structure built	1979	1979