Cleveland County vs Wayne County

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

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

Wayne County has the higher population (117,606 vs 100,170 in Cleveland County). Wayne County has the higher median household income ($58,082 vs $55,769 in Cleveland County). Cleveland County has the higher median home value ($180,200 vs $162,700 in Wayne County).

Population, income & housing

	Cleveland County	Wayne County
Population	100,170	117,606
Median age	41.2 yrs	37.4 yrs
Median household income	$55,769	$58,082
Median home value	$180,200	$162,700
Median gross rent	$835	$932
Housing units	43,999	53,134
Homeownership rate	70.7%	61.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	21.1%	21.3%
Unemployment rate	5.7%	5.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Cleveland County	Wayne County
Population	97,282 → 100,170 (+3.0%)	123,603 → 117,606 (-4.9%)
Median household income	$42,247 → $55,769 (+32.0%)	$44,416 → $58,082 (+30.8%)
Median home value	$120,100 → $180,200 (+50.0%)	$123,500 → $162,700 (+31.7%)
Median gross rent	$696 → $835 (+20.0%)	$777 → $932 (+19.9%)

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

Wayne County

Population

123,603117,606

Median household income

$44,416$58,082

Median home value

$123,500$162,700

Median gross rent

$777$932

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Cleveland County	Wayne County
Under 5	5.8%	6.4%
5 to 17	16.5%	17.3%
18 to 24	8.6%	9.6%
25 to 34	12.8%	13.6%
35 to 44	10.8%	11.6%
45 to 54	12.6%	11.8%
55 to 64	14.0%	12.9%
65 to 74	11.3%	10.2%
75 and over	7.4%	6.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Cleveland County	Wayne County
White (non-Hispanic)	71.0%	51.0%
Black or African American	18.4%	30.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.1%
Asian	0.9%	1.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.1%
Some other race	0.2%	0.2%
Two or more races	4.8%	4.0%
Hispanic or Latino	4.4%	13.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Cleveland County	Wayne County
No high school diploma	12.5%	13.6%
High school graduate	33.8%	30.4%
Some college or associate's	32.6%	34.7%
Bachelor's degree	13.5%	14.7%
Graduate or professional degree	7.6%	6.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Cleveland County	Wayne County
Drove alone	82.2%	82.0%
Carpooled	8.7%	12.1%
Public transit	0.0%	0.4%
Walked	2.0%	0.7%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.2%
Worked from home	6.2%	4.0%
Other means	0.8%	0.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Cleveland County	Wayne County
1-unit, detached	70.2%	60.1%
1-unit, attached	1.1%	2.4%
2 to 4 units	5.3%	6.1%
5 to 19 units	3.7%	4.4%
20 or more units	1.4%	3.1%
Mobile home & other	18.3%	23.8%

Poverty & households

	Cleveland County	Wayne County
Poverty rate	17.2%	16.9%
Average household size	2.64	2.44
Mean commute (minutes)	25	23
Median year structure built	1979	1983