Gaston County vs New Hanover County

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

Gaston County and New Hanover 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 231,214 in New Hanover County). New Hanover County has the higher median household income ($72,892 vs $65,472 in Gaston County). New Hanover County has the higher median home value ($353,700 vs $235,000 in Gaston County).

Population, income & housing

	Gaston County	New Hanover County
Population	231,485	231,214
Median age	39.5 yrs	40.1 yrs
Median household income	$65,472	$72,892
Median home value	$235,000	$353,700
Median gross rent	$1,085	$1,343
Housing units	100,109	117,236
Homeownership rate	65.8%	60.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	26.0%	44.8%
Unemployment rate	4.8%	4.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Gaston County	New Hanover County
Population	219,271 → 231,485 (+5.6%)	227,938 → 231,214 (+1.4%)
Median household income	$52,835 → $65,472 (+23.9%)	$54,891 → $72,892 (+32.8%)
Median home value	$144,200 → $235,000 (+63.0%)	$243,600 → $353,700 (+45.2%)
Median gross rent	$832 → $1,085 (+30.4%)	$1,031 → $1,343 (+30.3%)

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

New Hanover County

Population

227,938231,214

Median household income

$54,891$72,892

Median home value

$243,600$353,700

Median gross rent

$1,031$1,343

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Gaston County	New Hanover County
Under 5	5.8%	4.7%
5 to 17	16.8%	13.6%
18 to 24	7.9%	12.1%
25 to 34	13.6%	13.1%
35 to 44	12.6%	12.6%
45 to 54	13.7%	12.3%
55 to 64	13.3%	13.0%
65 to 74	9.8%	11.3%
75 and over	6.5%	7.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Gaston County	New Hanover County
White (non-Hispanic)	67.8%	75.1%
Black or African American	17.3%	11.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.2%
Asian	1.6%	1.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.6%
Two or more races	3.4%	4.0%
Hispanic or Latino	9.3%	7.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Gaston County	New Hanover County
No high school diploma	11.9%	6.4%
High school graduate	29.0%	18.0%
Some college or associate's	33.1%	30.8%
Bachelor's degree	18.2%	29.1%
Graduate or professional degree	7.7%	15.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Gaston County	New Hanover County
Drove alone	78.2%	72.4%
Carpooled	9.1%	6.8%
Public transit	0.5%	0.2%
Walked	1.0%	1.4%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.5%
Worked from home	10.3%	17.8%
Other means	0.9%	0.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Gaston County	New Hanover County
1-unit, detached	72.7%	61.0%
1-unit, attached	2.9%	5.6%
2 to 4 units	5.6%	8.0%
5 to 19 units	7.5%	12.3%
20 or more units	2.6%	10.4%
Mobile home & other	8.7%	2.8%

Poverty & households

	Gaston County	New Hanover County
Poverty rate	12.8%	12.4%
Average household size	2.47	2.20
Mean commute (minutes)	26	21
Median year structure built	1982	1992