Gaston County vs Johnston County

A side-by-side comparison of Gaston County and Johnston County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Gaston County has the higher population (231,485 vs 226,623 in Johnston County). Johnston County has the higher median household income ($79,838 vs $65,472 in Gaston County). Johnston County has the higher median home value ($267,600 vs $235,000 in Gaston County).

Population, income & housing

	Gaston County	Johnston County
Population	231,485	226,623
Median age	39.5 yrs	38.3 yrs
Median household income	$65,472	$79,838
Median home value	$235,000	$267,600
Median gross rent	$1,085	$1,007
Housing units	100,109	88,314
Homeownership rate	65.8%	77.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	26.0%	27.6%
Unemployment rate	4.8%	3.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Gaston County	Johnston County
Population	219,271 → 231,485 (+5.6%)	196,870 → 226,623 (+15.1%)
Median household income	$52,835 → $65,472 (+23.9%)	$59,865 → $79,838 (+33.4%)
Median home value	$144,200 → $235,000 (+63.0%)	$165,100 → $267,600 (+62.1%)
Median gross rent	$832 → $1,085 (+30.4%)	$857 → $1,007 (+17.5%)

Gaston County

Population

219,271231,485

Median household income

$52,835$65,472

Median home value

$144,200$235,000

Median gross rent

$832$1,085

Johnston County

Population

196,870226,623

Median household income

$59,865$79,838

Median home value

$165,100$267,600

Median gross rent

$857$1,007

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Gaston County	Johnston County
Under 5	5.8%	6.1%
5 to 17	16.8%	19.0%
18 to 24	7.9%	8.0%
25 to 34	13.6%	12.7%
35 to 44	12.6%	13.9%
45 to 54	13.7%	14.4%
55 to 64	13.3%	12.4%
65 to 74	9.8%	8.6%
75 and over	6.5%	4.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Gaston County	Johnston County
White (non-Hispanic)	67.8%	62.7%
Black or African American	17.3%	16.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.3%
Asian	1.6%	0.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.4%
Two or more races	3.4%	3.0%
Hispanic or Latino	9.3%	16.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Gaston County	Johnston County
No high school diploma	11.9%	10.5%
High school graduate	29.0%	27.5%
Some college or associate's	33.1%	34.3%
Bachelor's degree	18.2%	20.0%
Graduate or professional degree	7.7%	7.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Gaston County	Johnston County
Drove alone	78.2%	77.5%
Carpooled	9.1%	8.0%
Public transit	0.5%	0.1%
Walked	1.0%	0.7%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.1%
Worked from home	10.3%	13.1%
Other means	0.9%	0.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Gaston County	Johnston County
1-unit, detached	72.7%	75.2%
1-unit, attached	2.9%	2.8%
2 to 4 units	5.6%	3.2%
5 to 19 units	7.5%	2.6%
20 or more units	2.6%	2.2%
Mobile home & other	8.7%	14.0%

Poverty & households

	Gaston County	Johnston County
Poverty rate	12.8%	11.2%
Average household size	2.47	2.73
Mean commute (minutes)	26	32
Median year structure built	1982	1999