Cumberland County vs Union County

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

Cumberland County and Union 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 244,975 in Union County). Union County has the higher median household income ($99,243 vs $58,780 in Cumberland County). Union County has the higher median home value ($374,400 vs $183,700 in Cumberland County).

Population, income & housing

	Cumberland County	Union County
Population	336,749	244,975
Median age	31.8 yrs	39.1 yrs
Median household income	$58,780	$99,243
Median home value	$183,700	$374,400
Median gross rent	$1,156	$1,390
Housing units	143,184	86,730
Homeownership rate	53.7%	81.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	27.2%	39.0%
Unemployment rate	7.7%	4.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Cumberland County	Union County
Population	332,861 → 336,749 (+1.2%)	231,053 → 244,975 (+6.0%)
Median household income	$46,875 → $58,780 (+25.4%)	$80,033 → $99,243 (+24.0%)
Median home value	$135,300 → $183,700 (+35.8%)	$241,400 → $374,400 (+55.1%)
Median gross rent	$941 → $1,156 (+22.8%)	$1,030 → $1,390 (+35.0%)

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

Union County

Population

231,053244,975

Median household income

$80,033$99,243

Median home value

$241,400$374,400

Median gross rent

$1,030$1,390

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Cumberland County	Union County
Under 5	7.4%	5.5%
5 to 17	17.8%	20.6%
18 to 24	12.6%	9.4%
25 to 34	16.7%	9.8%
35 to 44	12.3%	13.4%
45 to 54	10.1%	15.8%
55 to 64	10.4%	12.5%
65 to 74	7.7%	8.1%
75 and over	5.0%	5.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Cumberland County	Union County
White (non-Hispanic)	40.6%	68.0%
Black or African American	36.4%	10.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	1.0%	0.1%
Asian	2.6%	4.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.3%	0.0%
Some other race	0.9%	0.4%
Two or more races	5.8%	3.5%
Hispanic or Latino	12.4%	12.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Cumberland County	Union County
No high school diploma	7.4%	9.6%
High school graduate	26.5%	22.8%
Some college or associate's	39.0%	28.6%
Bachelor's degree	17.4%	25.6%
Graduate or professional degree	9.8%	13.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Cumberland County	Union County
Drove alone	76.7%	70.8%
Carpooled	9.8%	9.3%
Public transit	0.4%	0.2%
Walked	5.0%	0.7%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.0%
Worked from home	6.5%	18.0%
Other means	1.5%	1.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Cumberland County	Union County
1-unit, detached	64.6%	86.6%
1-unit, attached	2.4%	2.9%
2 to 4 units	7.0%	2.0%
5 to 19 units	12.7%	2.7%
20 or more units	5.1%	0.9%
Mobile home & other	8.3%	4.8%

Poverty & households

	Cumberland County	Union County
Poverty rate	17.2%	7.7%
Average household size	2.49	2.95
Mean commute (minutes)	21	30
Median year structure built	1987	1999