Cumberland County vs Gaston County

A side-by-side comparison of Cumberland County and Gaston County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Cumberland County has the higher population (336,749 vs 231,485 in Gaston County). Gaston County has the higher median household income ($65,472 vs $58,780 in Cumberland County). Gaston County has the higher median home value ($235,000 vs $183,700 in Cumberland County).

Population, income & housing

	Cumberland County	Gaston County
Population	336,749	231,485
Median age	31.8 yrs	39.5 yrs
Median household income	$58,780	$65,472
Median home value	$183,700	$235,000
Median gross rent	$1,156	$1,085
Housing units	143,184	100,109
Homeownership rate	53.7%	65.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	27.2%	26.0%
Unemployment rate	7.7%	4.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Cumberland County	Gaston County
Population	332,861 → 336,749 (+1.2%)	219,271 → 231,485 (+5.6%)
Median household income	$46,875 → $58,780 (+25.4%)	$52,835 → $65,472 (+23.9%)
Median home value	$135,300 → $183,700 (+35.8%)	$144,200 → $235,000 (+63.0%)
Median gross rent	$941 → $1,156 (+22.8%)	$832 → $1,085 (+30.4%)

Cumberland County

Population

332,861336,749

Median household income

$46,875$58,780

Median home value

$135,300$183,700

Median gross rent

$941$1,156

Gaston County

Population

219,271231,485

Median household income

$52,835$65,472

Median home value

$144,200$235,000

Median gross rent

$832$1,085

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Cumberland County	Gaston County
Under 5	7.4%	5.8%
5 to 17	17.8%	16.8%
18 to 24	12.6%	7.9%
25 to 34	16.7%	13.6%
35 to 44	12.3%	12.6%
45 to 54	10.1%	13.7%
55 to 64	10.4%	13.3%
65 to 74	7.7%	9.8%
75 and over	5.0%	6.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Cumberland County	Gaston County
White (non-Hispanic)	40.6%	67.8%
Black or African American	36.4%	17.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	1.0%	0.2%
Asian	2.6%	1.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.3%	0.0%
Some other race	0.9%	0.4%
Two or more races	5.8%	3.4%
Hispanic or Latino	12.4%	9.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Cumberland County	Gaston County
No high school diploma	7.4%	11.9%
High school graduate	26.5%	29.0%
Some college or associate's	39.0%	33.1%
Bachelor's degree	17.4%	18.2%
Graduate or professional degree	9.8%	7.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Cumberland County	Gaston County
Drove alone	76.7%	78.2%
Carpooled	9.8%	9.1%
Public transit	0.4%	0.5%
Walked	5.0%	1.0%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.0%
Worked from home	6.5%	10.3%
Other means	1.5%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Cumberland County	Gaston County
1-unit, detached	64.6%	72.7%
1-unit, attached	2.4%	2.9%
2 to 4 units	7.0%	5.6%
5 to 19 units	12.7%	7.5%
20 or more units	5.1%	2.6%
Mobile home & other	8.3%	8.7%

Poverty & households

	Cumberland County	Gaston County
Poverty rate	17.2%	12.8%
Average household size	2.49	2.47
Mean commute (minutes)	21	26
Median year structure built	1987	1982