Forsyth County vs Mecklenburg County

A side-by-side comparison of Forsyth County and Mecklenburg County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Mecklenburg County has the higher population (1,130,906 vs 386,740 in Forsyth County). Mecklenburg County has the higher median household income ($83,765 vs $65,541 in Forsyth County). Mecklenburg County has the higher median home value ($371,200 vs $227,800 in Forsyth County).

Population, income & housing

	Forsyth County	Mecklenburg County
Population	386,740	1,130,906
Median age	38.3 yrs	35.4 yrs
Median household income	$65,541	$83,765
Median home value	$227,800	$371,200
Median gross rent	$1,046	$1,521
Housing units	173,220	491,721
Homeownership rate	62.7%	55.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	36.9%	48.6%
Unemployment rate	5.3%	4.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Forsyth County	Mecklenburg County
Population	375,195 → 386,740 (+3.1%)	1,074,475 → 1,130,906 (+5.3%)
Median household income	$51,569 → $65,541 (+27.1%)	$66,641 → $83,765 (+25.7%)
Median home value	$159,300 → $227,800 (+43.0%)	$238,000 → $371,200 (+56.0%)
Median gross rent	$812 → $1,046 (+28.8%)	$1,146 → $1,521 (+32.7%)

Forsyth County

Population

375,195386,740

Median household income

$51,569$65,541

Median home value

$159,300$227,800

Median gross rent

$812$1,046

Mecklenburg County

Population

1,074,4751,130,906

Median household income

$66,641$83,765

Median home value

$238,000$371,200

Median gross rent

$1,146$1,521

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Forsyth County	Mecklenburg County
Under 5	5.7%	6.4%
5 to 17	17.1%	16.6%
18 to 24	10.0%	9.1%
25 to 34	13.1%	17.1%
35 to 44	12.1%	14.7%
45 to 54	12.4%	13.2%
55 to 64	12.9%	11.1%
65 to 74	10.0%	7.3%
75 and over	6.6%	4.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Forsyth County	Mecklenburg County
White (non-Hispanic)	54.2%	43.9%
Black or African American	24.9%	30.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.1%
Asian	2.3%	6.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.5%
Two or more races	3.2%	3.8%
Hispanic or Latino	14.6%	15.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Forsyth County	Mecklenburg County
No high school diploma	10.1%	9.2%
High school graduate	24.1%	16.4%
Some college or associate's	28.9%	25.8%
Bachelor's degree	22.6%	31.3%
Graduate or professional degree	14.3%	17.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Forsyth County	Mecklenburg County
Drove alone	75.4%	61.9%
Carpooled	8.3%	7.7%
Public transit	0.8%	1.9%
Walked	1.5%	1.6%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.2%
Worked from home	12.6%	25.5%
Other means	1.2%	1.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Forsyth County	Mecklenburg County
1-unit, detached	66.5%	55.6%
1-unit, attached	4.1%	8.5%
2 to 4 units	4.9%	3.3%
5 to 19 units	14.4%	15.2%
20 or more units	6.9%	15.8%
Mobile home & other	3.3%	1.5%

Poverty & households

	Forsyth County	Mecklenburg County
Poverty rate	14.7%	10.4%
Average household size	2.42	2.45
Mean commute (minutes)	23	25
Median year structure built	1983	1996