Gaston County vs Union County

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

Gaston 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.

Union County has the higher population (244,975 vs 231,485 in Gaston County). Union County has the higher median household income ($99,243 vs $65,472 in Gaston County). Union County has the higher median home value ($374,400 vs $235,000 in Gaston County).

Population, income & housing

	Gaston County	Union County
Population	231,485	244,975
Median age	39.5 yrs	39.1 yrs
Median household income	$65,472	$99,243
Median home value	$235,000	$374,400
Median gross rent	$1,085	$1,390
Housing units	100,109	86,730
Homeownership rate	65.8%	81.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	26.0%	39.0%
Unemployment rate	4.8%	4.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Gaston County	Union County
Population	219,271 → 231,485 (+5.6%)	231,053 → 244,975 (+6.0%)
Median household income	$52,835 → $65,472 (+23.9%)	$80,033 → $99,243 (+24.0%)
Median home value	$144,200 → $235,000 (+63.0%)	$241,400 → $374,400 (+55.1%)
Median gross rent	$832 → $1,085 (+30.4%)	$1,030 → $1,390 (+35.0%)

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

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)

	Gaston County	Union County
Under 5	5.8%	5.5%
5 to 17	16.8%	20.6%
18 to 24	7.9%	9.4%
25 to 34	13.6%	9.8%
35 to 44	12.6%	13.4%
45 to 54	13.7%	15.8%
55 to 64	13.3%	12.5%
65 to 74	9.8%	8.1%
75 and over	6.5%	5.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Gaston County	Union County
White (non-Hispanic)	67.8%	68.0%
Black or African American	17.3%	10.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.1%
Asian	1.6%	4.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.4%
Two or more races	3.4%	3.5%
Hispanic or Latino	9.3%	12.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Gaston County	Union County
No high school diploma	11.9%	9.6%
High school graduate	29.0%	22.8%
Some college or associate's	33.1%	28.6%
Bachelor's degree	18.2%	25.6%
Graduate or professional degree	7.7%	13.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Gaston County	Union County
Drove alone	78.2%	70.8%
Carpooled	9.1%	9.3%
Public transit	0.5%	0.2%
Walked	1.0%	0.7%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	10.3%	18.0%
Other means	0.9%	1.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Gaston County	Union County
1-unit, detached	72.7%	86.6%
1-unit, attached	2.9%	2.9%
2 to 4 units	5.6%	2.0%
5 to 19 units	7.5%	2.7%
20 or more units	2.6%	0.9%
Mobile home & other	8.7%	4.8%

Poverty & households

	Gaston County	Union County
Poverty rate	12.8%	7.7%
Average household size	2.47	2.95
Mean commute (minutes)	26	30
Median year structure built	1982	1999