Guilford County vs Mecklenburg County

A side-by-side comparison of Guilford County and Mecklenburg County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Mecklenburg County has the higher population (1,130,906 vs 542,987 in Guilford County). Mecklenburg County has the higher median household income ($83,765 vs $66,027 in Guilford County). Mecklenburg County has the higher median home value ($371,200 vs $234,900 in Guilford County).

Population, income & housing

	Guilford County	Mecklenburg County
Population	542,987	1,130,906
Median age	37.4 yrs	35.4 yrs
Median household income	$66,027	$83,765
Median home value	$234,900	$371,200
Median gross rent	$1,108	$1,521
Housing units	235,833	491,721
Homeownership rate	60.0%	55.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	38.1%	48.6%
Unemployment rate	4.7%	4.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Guilford County	Mecklenburg County
Population	527,868 → 542,987 (+2.9%)	1,074,475 → 1,130,906 (+5.3%)
Median household income	$53,261 → $66,027 (+24.0%)	$66,641 → $83,765 (+25.7%)
Median home value	$167,000 → $234,900 (+40.7%)	$238,000 → $371,200 (+56.0%)
Median gross rent	$878 → $1,108 (+26.2%)	$1,146 → $1,521 (+32.7%)

Guilford County

Population

527,868542,987

Median household income

$53,261$66,027

Median home value

$167,000$234,900

Median gross rent

$878$1,108

Mecklenburg County

Population

1,074,4751,130,906

Median household income

$66,641$83,765

Median home value

$238,000$371,200

Median gross rent

$1,146$1,521

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Guilford County	Mecklenburg County
Under 5	5.6%	6.4%
5 to 17	16.5%	16.6%
18 to 24	11.7%	9.1%
25 to 34	13.4%	17.1%
35 to 44	12.3%	14.7%
45 to 54	12.6%	13.2%
55 to 64	12.3%	11.1%
65 to 74	9.3%	7.3%
75 and over	6.3%	4.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Guilford County	Mecklenburg County
White (non-Hispanic)	46.8%	43.9%
Black or African American	33.5%	30.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.1%
Asian	5.2%	6.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.7%	0.5%
Two or more races	3.8%	3.8%
Hispanic or Latino	9.8%	15.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Guilford County	Mecklenburg County
No high school diploma	9.7%	9.2%
High school graduate	22.6%	16.4%
Some college or associate's	29.6%	25.8%
Bachelor's degree	23.7%	31.3%
Graduate or professional degree	14.4%	17.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Guilford County	Mecklenburg County
Drove alone	74.5%	61.9%
Carpooled	8.4%	7.7%
Public transit	1.5%	1.9%
Walked	1.8%	1.6%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.2%
Worked from home	12.1%	25.5%
Other means	1.6%	1.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Guilford County	Mecklenburg County
1-unit, detached	62.7%	55.6%
1-unit, attached	6.1%	8.5%
2 to 4 units	5.9%	3.3%
5 to 19 units	14.7%	15.2%
20 or more units	7.5%	15.8%
Mobile home & other	3.0%	1.5%

Poverty & households

	Guilford County	Mecklenburg County
Poverty rate	15.2%	10.4%
Average household size	2.41	2.45
Mean commute (minutes)	23	25
Median year structure built	1986	1996