Forsyth County vs Wake County

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

Forsyth 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 386,740 in Forsyth County). Wake County has the higher median household income ($101,763 vs $65,541 in Forsyth County). Wake County has the higher median home value ($422,800 vs $227,800 in Forsyth County).

Population, income & housing

	Forsyth County	Wake County
Population	386,740	1,151,009
Median age	38.3 yrs	37.2 yrs
Median household income	$65,541	$101,763
Median home value	$227,800	$422,800
Median gross rent	$1,046	$1,508
Housing units	173,220	481,999
Homeownership rate	62.7%	64.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	36.9%	56.3%
Unemployment rate	5.3%	4.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Forsyth County	Wake County
Population	375,195 → 386,740 (+3.1%)	1,069,079 → 1,151,009 (+7.7%)
Median household income	$51,569 → $65,541 (+27.1%)	$80,591 → $101,763 (+26.3%)
Median home value	$159,300 → $227,800 (+43.0%)	$281,700 → $422,800 (+50.1%)
Median gross rent	$812 → $1,046 (+28.8%)	$1,150 → $1,508 (+31.1%)

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

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)

	Forsyth County	Wake County
Under 5	5.7%	5.8%
5 to 17	17.1%	17.6%
18 to 24	10.0%	8.7%
25 to 34	13.1%	14.6%
35 to 44	12.1%	15.1%
45 to 54	12.4%	14.1%
55 to 64	12.9%	11.6%
65 to 74	10.0%	7.8%
75 and over	6.6%	4.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Forsyth County	Wake County
White (non-Hispanic)	54.2%	57.0%
Black or African American	24.9%	18.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.2%
Asian	2.3%	8.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.6%
Two or more races	3.2%	3.8%
Hispanic or Latino	14.6%	11.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Forsyth County	Wake County
No high school diploma	10.1%	6.0%
High school graduate	24.1%	14.5%
Some college or associate's	28.9%	23.1%
Bachelor's degree	22.6%	33.8%
Graduate or professional degree	14.3%	22.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Forsyth County	Wake County
Drove alone	75.4%	64.4%
Carpooled	8.3%	6.1%
Public transit	0.8%	0.7%
Walked	1.5%	1.3%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.2%
Worked from home	12.6%	26.0%
Other means	1.2%	1.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Forsyth County	Wake County
1-unit, detached	66.5%	58.5%
1-unit, attached	4.1%	11.1%
2 to 4 units	4.9%	3.7%
5 to 19 units	14.4%	12.3%
20 or more units	6.9%	11.6%
Mobile home & other	3.3%	2.7%

Poverty & households

	Forsyth County	Wake County
Poverty rate	14.7%	7.9%
Average household size	2.42	2.54
Mean commute (minutes)	23	25
Median year structure built	1983	1999