Cumberland County vs Wake County

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

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

Wake County has the higher population (1,151,009 vs 336,749 in Cumberland County). Wake County has the higher median household income ($101,763 vs $58,780 in Cumberland County). Wake County has the higher median home value ($422,800 vs $183,700 in Cumberland County).

Population, income & housing

	Cumberland County	Wake County
Population	336,749	1,151,009
Median age	31.8 yrs	37.2 yrs
Median household income	$58,780	$101,763
Median home value	$183,700	$422,800
Median gross rent	$1,156	$1,508
Housing units	143,184	481,999
Homeownership rate	53.7%	64.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	27.2%	56.3%
Unemployment rate	7.7%	4.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Cumberland County	Wake County
Population	332,861 → 336,749 (+1.2%)	1,069,079 → 1,151,009 (+7.7%)
Median household income	$46,875 → $58,780 (+25.4%)	$80,591 → $101,763 (+26.3%)
Median home value	$135,300 → $183,700 (+35.8%)	$281,700 → $422,800 (+50.1%)
Median gross rent	$941 → $1,156 (+22.8%)	$1,150 → $1,508 (+31.1%)

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

Wake County

Population

1,069,0791,151,009

Median household income

$80,591$101,763

Median home value

$281,700$422,800

Median gross rent

$1,150$1,508

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Cumberland County	Wake County
Under 5	7.4%	5.8%
5 to 17	17.8%	17.6%
18 to 24	12.6%	8.7%
25 to 34	16.7%	14.6%
35 to 44	12.3%	15.1%
45 to 54	10.1%	14.1%
55 to 64	10.4%	11.6%
65 to 74	7.7%	7.8%
75 and over	5.0%	4.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Cumberland County	Wake County
White (non-Hispanic)	40.6%	57.0%
Black or African American	36.4%	18.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	1.0%	0.2%
Asian	2.6%	8.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.3%	0.0%
Some other race	0.9%	0.6%
Two or more races	5.8%	3.8%
Hispanic or Latino	12.4%	11.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Cumberland County	Wake County
No high school diploma	7.4%	6.0%
High school graduate	26.5%	14.5%
Some college or associate's	39.0%	23.1%
Bachelor's degree	17.4%	33.8%
Graduate or professional degree	9.8%	22.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Cumberland County	Wake County
Drove alone	76.7%	64.4%
Carpooled	9.8%	6.1%
Public transit	0.4%	0.7%
Walked	5.0%	1.3%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.2%
Worked from home	6.5%	26.0%
Other means	1.5%	1.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Cumberland County	Wake County
1-unit, detached	64.6%	58.5%
1-unit, attached	2.4%	11.1%
2 to 4 units	7.0%	3.7%
5 to 19 units	12.7%	12.3%
20 or more units	5.1%	11.6%
Mobile home & other	8.3%	2.7%

Poverty & households

	Cumberland County	Wake County
Poverty rate	17.2%	7.9%
Average household size	2.49	2.54
Mean commute (minutes)	21	25
Median year structure built	1987	1999