Duplin County vs Watauga County

A side-by-side comparison of Duplin County and Watauga County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Watauga County has the higher population (54,607 vs 49,053 in Duplin County). Duplin County has the higher median household income ($51,880 vs $51,367 in Watauga County). Watauga County has the higher median home value ($321,500 vs $123,200 in Duplin County).

Population, income & housing

	Duplin County	Watauga County
Population	49,053	54,607
Median age	40.7 yrs	32.2 yrs
Median household income	$51,880	$51,367
Median home value	$123,200	$321,500
Median gross rent	$815	$1,066
Housing units	23,823	33,028
Homeownership rate	70.0%	61.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	17.5%	47.7%
Unemployment rate	4.7%	9.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Duplin County	Watauga County
Population	58,967 → 49,053 (-16.8%)	54,925 → 54,607 (-0.6%)
Median household income	$41,764 → $51,880 (+24.2%)	$47,526 → $51,367 (+8.1%)
Median home value	$90,200 → $123,200 (+36.6%)	$238,000 → $321,500 (+35.1%)
Median gross rent	$665 → $815 (+22.6%)	$870 → $1,066 (+22.5%)

Duplin County

Population

58,96749,053

Median household income

$41,764$51,880

Median home value

$90,200$123,200

Median gross rent

$665$815

Watauga County

Population

54,92554,607

Median household income

$47,526$51,367

Median home value

$238,000$321,500

Median gross rent

$870$1,066

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Duplin County	Watauga County
Under 5	6.2%	3.0%
5 to 17	17.5%	9.4%
18 to 24	8.7%	30.5%
25 to 34	10.9%	10.2%
35 to 44	11.0%	9.4%
45 to 54	12.4%	9.6%
55 to 64	13.6%	11.2%
65 to 74	11.6%	10.2%
75 and over	8.0%	6.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Duplin County	Watauga County
White (non-Hispanic)	50.8%	88.9%
Black or African American	22.7%	1.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	0.6%	1.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.1%
Two or more races	2.9%	2.0%
Hispanic or Latino	22.7%	6.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Duplin County	Watauga County
No high school diploma	18.1%	7.6%
High school graduate	30.7%	20.8%
Some college or associate's	33.8%	24.0%
Bachelor's degree	12.6%	25.8%
Graduate or professional degree	4.9%	21.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Duplin County	Watauga County
Drove alone	80.3%	74.7%
Carpooled	11.4%	9.9%
Public transit	0.0%	1.2%
Walked	1.2%	3.9%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.1%
Worked from home	5.4%	9.6%
Other means	1.7%	0.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Duplin County	Watauga County
1-unit, detached	59.9%	64.7%
1-unit, attached	0.8%	1.5%
2 to 4 units	5.1%	8.0%
5 to 19 units	1.5%	12.1%
20 or more units	1.1%	5.7%
Mobile home & other	31.5%	8.0%

Poverty & households

	Duplin County	Watauga County
Poverty rate	17.9%	24.7%
Average household size	2.42	2.29
Mean commute (minutes)	30	21
Median year structure built	1987	1987