Davidson County vs Rowan County

A side-by-side comparison of Davidson County and Rowan County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Davidson County has the higher population (171,063 vs 148,487 in Rowan County). Rowan County has the higher median household income ($63,196 vs $62,426 in Davidson County). Rowan County has the higher median home value ($216,100 vs $200,100 in Davidson County).

Population, income & housing

	Davidson County	Rowan County
Population	171,063	148,487
Median age	42.3 yrs	40.5 yrs
Median household income	$62,426	$63,196
Median home value	$200,100	$216,100
Median gross rent	$863	$990
Housing units	75,615	64,263
Homeownership rate	73.5%	71.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.7%	21.5%
Unemployment rate	4.0%	5.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Davidson County	Rowan County
Population	165,381 → 171,063 (+3.4%)	140,296 → 148,487 (+5.8%)
Median household income	$49,546 → $62,426 (+26.0%)	$49,842 → $63,196 (+26.8%)
Median home value	$142,100 → $200,100 (+40.8%)	$136,400 → $216,100 (+58.4%)
Median gross rent	$720 → $863 (+19.9%)	$772 → $990 (+28.2%)

Davidson County

Population

165,381171,063

Median household income

$49,546$62,426

Median home value

$142,100$200,100

Median gross rent

$720$863

Rowan County

Population

140,296148,487

Median household income

$49,842$63,196

Median home value

$136,400$216,100

Median gross rent

$772$990

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Davidson County	Rowan County
Under 5	5.4%	5.6%
5 to 17	16.4%	16.7%
18 to 24	7.6%	8.7%
25 to 34	12.0%	12.7%
35 to 44	11.9%	11.8%
45 to 54	13.6%	13.0%
55 to 64	14.5%	14.0%
65 to 74	11.0%	10.7%
75 and over	7.6%	6.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Davidson County	Rowan County
White (non-Hispanic)	76.8%	68.5%
Black or African American	9.2%	15.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	1.5%	1.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	0.3%	0.3%
Two or more races	3.5%	3.4%
Hispanic or Latino	8.6%	11.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Davidson County	Rowan County
No high school diploma	12.3%	11.9%
High school graduate	32.5%	32.3%
Some college or associate's	34.5%	34.2%
Bachelor's degree	14.6%	14.9%
Graduate or professional degree	6.2%	6.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Davidson County	Rowan County
Drove alone	79.7%	79.5%
Carpooled	9.6%	9.9%
Public transit	0.1%	0.3%
Walked	0.9%	1.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.3%
Worked from home	8.8%	7.8%
Other means	1.0%	1.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Davidson County	Rowan County
1-unit, detached	74.8%	70.5%
1-unit, attached	2.5%	1.3%
2 to 4 units	5.3%	5.4%
5 to 19 units	2.5%	5.2%
20 or more units	1.7%	1.5%
Mobile home & other	13.3%	16.1%

Poverty & households

	Davidson County	Rowan County
Poverty rate	13.8%	15.8%
Average household size	2.47	2.50
Mean commute (minutes)	24	26
Median year structure built	1985	1982