Forsyth County vs Union County

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

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

Forsyth County has the higher population (386,740 vs 244,975 in Union County). Union County has the higher median household income ($99,243 vs $65,541 in Forsyth County). Union County has the higher median home value ($374,400 vs $227,800 in Forsyth County).

Population, income & housing

	Forsyth County	Union County
Population	386,740	244,975
Median age	38.3 yrs	39.1 yrs
Median household income	$65,541	$99,243
Median home value	$227,800	$374,400
Median gross rent	$1,046	$1,390
Housing units	173,220	86,730
Homeownership rate	62.7%	81.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	36.9%	39.0%
Unemployment rate	5.3%	4.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Forsyth County	Union County
Population	375,195 → 386,740 (+3.1%)	231,053 → 244,975 (+6.0%)
Median household income	$51,569 → $65,541 (+27.1%)	$80,033 → $99,243 (+24.0%)
Median home value	$159,300 → $227,800 (+43.0%)	$241,400 → $374,400 (+55.1%)
Median gross rent	$812 → $1,046 (+28.8%)	$1,030 → $1,390 (+35.0%)

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

Union County

Population

231,053244,975

Median household income

$80,033$99,243

Median home value

$241,400$374,400

Median gross rent

$1,030$1,390

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Forsyth County	Union County
Under 5	5.7%	5.5%
5 to 17	17.1%	20.6%
18 to 24	10.0%	9.4%
25 to 34	13.1%	9.8%
35 to 44	12.1%	13.4%
45 to 54	12.4%	15.8%
55 to 64	12.9%	12.5%
65 to 74	10.0%	8.1%
75 and over	6.6%	5.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Forsyth County	Union County
White (non-Hispanic)	54.2%	68.0%
Black or African American	24.9%	10.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.1%
Asian	2.3%	4.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.4%
Two or more races	3.2%	3.5%
Hispanic or Latino	14.6%	12.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Forsyth County	Union County
No high school diploma	10.1%	9.6%
High school graduate	24.1%	22.8%
Some college or associate's	28.9%	28.6%
Bachelor's degree	22.6%	25.6%
Graduate or professional degree	14.3%	13.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Forsyth County	Union County
Drove alone	75.4%	70.8%
Carpooled	8.3%	9.3%
Public transit	0.8%	0.2%
Walked	1.5%	0.7%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.0%
Worked from home	12.6%	18.0%
Other means	1.2%	1.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Forsyth County	Union County
1-unit, detached	66.5%	86.6%
1-unit, attached	4.1%	2.9%
2 to 4 units	4.9%	2.0%
5 to 19 units	14.4%	2.7%
20 or more units	6.9%	0.9%
Mobile home & other	3.3%	4.8%

Poverty & households

	Forsyth County	Union County
Poverty rate	14.7%	7.7%
Average household size	2.42	2.95
Mean commute (minutes)	23	30
Median year structure built	1983	1999