Guilford County vs Wake County

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

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

Wake County has the higher population (1,151,009 vs 542,987 in Guilford County). Wake County has the higher median household income ($101,763 vs $66,027 in Guilford County). Wake County has the higher median home value ($422,800 vs $234,900 in Guilford County).

Population, income & housing

	Guilford County	Wake County
Population	542,987	1,151,009
Median age	37.4 yrs	37.2 yrs
Median household income	$66,027	$101,763
Median home value	$234,900	$422,800
Median gross rent	$1,108	$1,508
Housing units	235,833	481,999
Homeownership rate	60.0%	64.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	38.1%	56.3%
Unemployment rate	4.7%	4.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Guilford County	Wake County
Population	527,868 → 542,987 (+2.9%)	1,069,079 → 1,151,009 (+7.7%)
Median household income	$53,261 → $66,027 (+24.0%)	$80,591 → $101,763 (+26.3%)
Median home value	$167,000 → $234,900 (+40.7%)	$281,700 → $422,800 (+50.1%)
Median gross rent	$878 → $1,108 (+26.2%)	$1,150 → $1,508 (+31.1%)

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

Wake County

Population

1,069,0791,151,009

Median household income

$80,591$101,763

Median home value

$281,700$422,800

Median gross rent

$1,150$1,508

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Guilford County	Wake County
Under 5	5.6%	5.8%
5 to 17	16.5%	17.6%
18 to 24	11.7%	8.7%
25 to 34	13.4%	14.6%
35 to 44	12.3%	15.1%
45 to 54	12.6%	14.1%
55 to 64	12.3%	11.6%
65 to 74	9.3%	7.8%
75 and over	6.3%	4.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Guilford County	Wake County
White (non-Hispanic)	46.8%	57.0%
Black or African American	33.5%	18.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.2%
Asian	5.2%	8.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.7%	0.6%
Two or more races	3.8%	3.8%
Hispanic or Latino	9.8%	11.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Guilford County	Wake County
No high school diploma	9.7%	6.0%
High school graduate	22.6%	14.5%
Some college or associate's	29.6%	23.1%
Bachelor's degree	23.7%	33.8%
Graduate or professional degree	14.4%	22.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Guilford County	Wake County
Drove alone	74.5%	64.4%
Carpooled	8.4%	6.1%
Public transit	1.5%	0.7%
Walked	1.8%	1.3%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.2%
Worked from home	12.1%	26.0%
Other means	1.6%	1.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Guilford County	Wake County
1-unit, detached	62.7%	58.5%
1-unit, attached	6.1%	11.1%
2 to 4 units	5.9%	3.7%
5 to 19 units	14.7%	12.3%
20 or more units	7.5%	11.6%
Mobile home & other	3.0%	2.7%

Poverty & households

	Guilford County	Wake County
Poverty rate	15.2%	7.9%
Average household size	2.41	2.54
Mean commute (minutes)	23	25
Median year structure built	1986	1999