Durham County vs Wake County

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

Durham 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 329,405 in Durham County). Wake County has the higher median household income ($101,763 vs $79,501 in Durham County). Wake County has the higher median home value ($422,800 vs $351,700 in Durham County).

Population, income & housing

	Durham County	Wake County
Population	329,405	1,151,009
Median age	35.8 yrs	37.2 yrs
Median household income	$79,501	$101,763
Median home value	$351,700	$422,800
Median gross rent	$1,415	$1,508
Housing units	149,150	481,999
Homeownership rate	55.0%	64.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	53.5%	56.3%
Unemployment rate	4.2%	4.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Durham County	Wake County
Population	311,848 → 329,405 (+5.6%)	1,069,079 → 1,151,009 (+7.7%)
Median household income	$60,958 → $79,501 (+30.4%)	$80,591 → $101,763 (+26.3%)
Median home value	$223,000 → $351,700 (+57.7%)	$281,700 → $422,800 (+50.1%)
Median gross rent	$1,067 → $1,415 (+32.6%)	$1,150 → $1,508 (+31.1%)

Durham County

Population

311,848329,405

Median household income

$60,958$79,501

Median home value

$223,000$351,700

Median gross rent

$1,067$1,415

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)

	Durham County	Wake County
Under 5	6.0%	5.8%
5 to 17	14.1%	17.6%
18 to 24	10.5%	8.7%
25 to 34	18.0%	14.6%
35 to 44	14.3%	15.1%
45 to 54	11.8%	14.1%
55 to 64	11.2%	11.6%
65 to 74	8.8%	7.8%
75 and over	5.2%	4.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Durham County	Wake County
White (non-Hispanic)	41.9%	57.0%
Black or African American	32.8%	18.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.2%
Asian	5.1%	8.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.6%
Two or more races	4.2%	3.8%
Hispanic or Latino	15.3%	11.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Durham County	Wake County
No high school diploma	9.3%	6.0%
High school graduate	16.3%	14.5%
Some college or associate's	20.9%	23.1%
Bachelor's degree	27.6%	33.8%
Graduate or professional degree	25.9%	22.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Durham County	Wake County
Drove alone	65.8%	64.4%
Carpooled	8.1%	6.1%
Public transit	2.0%	0.7%
Walked	2.1%	1.3%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.2%
Worked from home	20.2%	26.0%
Other means	1.3%	1.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Durham County	Wake County
1-unit, detached	54.9%	58.5%
1-unit, attached	9.4%	11.1%
2 to 4 units	6.4%	3.7%
5 to 19 units	16.5%	12.3%
20 or more units	11.5%	11.6%
Mobile home & other	1.3%	2.7%

Poverty & households

	Durham County	Wake County
Poverty rate	12.0%	7.9%
Average household size	2.28	2.54
Mean commute (minutes)	23	25
Median year structure built	1993	1999