Greene County vs Polk County

A side-by-side comparison of Greene County and Polk County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Greene County has the higher population (20,421 vs 19,689 in Polk County). Polk County has the higher median household income ($61,005 vs $50,904 in Greene County). Polk County has the higher median home value ($281,100 vs $114,000 in Greene County).

Population, income & housing

	Greene County	Polk County
Population	20,421	19,689
Median age	39.6 yrs	54.4 yrs
Median household income	$50,904	$61,005
Median home value	$114,000	$281,100
Median gross rent	$845	$1,089
Housing units	7,909	10,949
Homeownership rate	65.3%	76.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	12.2%	32.9%
Unemployment rate	5.6%	4.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Greene County	Polk County
Population	21,033 → 20,421 (-2.9%)	20,557 → 19,689 (-4.2%)
Median household income	$39,837 → $50,904 (+27.8%)	$48,787 → $61,005 (+25.0%)
Median home value	$88,600 → $114,000 (+28.7%)	$225,700 → $281,100 (+24.5%)
Median gross rent	$695 → $845 (+21.6%)	$851 → $1,089 (+28.0%)

Greene County

Population

21,03320,421

Median household income

$39,837$50,904

Median home value

$88,600$114,000

Median gross rent

$695$845

Polk County

Population

20,55719,689

Median household income

$48,787$61,005

Median home value

$225,700$281,100

Median gross rent

$851$1,089

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Greene County	Polk County
Under 5	4.8%	3.6%
5 to 17	14.1%	12.0%
18 to 24	9.8%	5.4%
25 to 34	14.0%	8.6%
35 to 44	14.4%	10.1%
45 to 54	12.5%	11.9%
55 to 64	13.5%	16.5%
65 to 74	10.5%	16.8%
75 and over	6.4%	15.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Greene County	Polk County
White (non-Hispanic)	45.9%	87.2%
Black or African American	31.7%	5.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.5%	0.2%
Asian	0.0%	0.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.2%
Two or more races	6.6%	1.8%
Hispanic or Latino	15.1%	5.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Greene County	Polk County
No high school diploma	22.2%	8.1%
High school graduate	33.4%	27.2%
Some college or associate's	32.2%	31.8%
Bachelor's degree	8.7%	20.3%
Graduate or professional degree	3.5%	12.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Greene County	Polk County
Drove alone	87.8%	74.6%
Carpooled	7.8%	11.0%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.6%	1.9%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	3.7%	12.1%
Other means	0.1%	0.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Greene County	Polk County
1-unit, detached	56.6%	78.8%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	1.5%
2 to 4 units	3.1%	2.6%
5 to 19 units	1.0%	2.5%
20 or more units	1.3%	3.0%
Mobile home & other	38.1%	11.6%

Poverty & households

	Greene County	Polk County
Poverty rate	22.4%	13.7%
Average household size	2.59	2.22
Mean commute (minutes)	26	28
Median year structure built	1984	1982