Hertford County vs Polk County

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

Hertford 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.

Hertford County has the higher population (20,492 vs 19,689 in Polk County). Polk County has the higher median household income ($61,005 vs $47,472 in Hertford County). Polk County has the higher median home value ($281,100 vs $111,100 in Hertford County).

Population, income & housing

	Hertford County	Polk County
Population	20,492	19,689
Median age	42.3 yrs	54.4 yrs
Median household income	$47,472	$61,005
Median home value	$111,100	$281,100
Median gross rent	$806	$1,089
Housing units	9,831	10,949
Homeownership rate	66.4%	76.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	16.7%	32.9%
Unemployment rate	5.2%	4.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Hertford County	Polk County
Population	24,012 → 20,492 (-14.7%)	20,557 → 19,689 (-4.2%)
Median household income	$41,028 → $47,472 (+15.7%)	$48,787 → $61,005 (+25.0%)
Median home value	$88,600 → $111,100 (+25.4%)	$225,700 → $281,100 (+24.5%)
Median gross rent	$756 → $806 (+6.6%)	$851 → $1,089 (+28.0%)

Hertford County

Population

24,01220,492

Median household income

$41,028$47,472

Median home value

$88,600$111,100

Median gross rent

$756$806

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)

	Hertford County	Polk County
Under 5	4.6%	3.6%
5 to 17	14.3%	12.0%
18 to 24	11.5%	5.4%
25 to 34	11.1%	8.6%
35 to 44	11.5%	10.1%
45 to 54	10.9%	11.9%
55 to 64	14.8%	16.5%
65 to 74	12.7%	16.8%
75 and over	8.6%	15.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Hertford County	Polk County
White (non-Hispanic)	32.3%	87.2%
Black or African American	56.4%	5.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	1.0%	0.2%
Asian	1.0%	0.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.2%
Two or more races	2.4%	1.8%
Hispanic or Latino	6.5%	5.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Hertford County	Polk County
No high school diploma	15.3%	8.1%
High school graduate	34.8%	27.2%
Some college or associate's	33.2%	31.8%
Bachelor's degree	10.4%	20.3%
Graduate or professional degree	6.4%	12.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Hertford County	Polk County
Drove alone	77.0%	74.6%
Carpooled	12.6%	11.0%
Public transit	0.8%	0.0%
Walked	1.9%	1.9%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.0%
Worked from home	4.6%	12.1%
Other means	2.8%	0.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Hertford County	Polk County
1-unit, detached	67.1%	78.8%
1-unit, attached	1.5%	1.5%
2 to 4 units	7.4%	2.6%
5 to 19 units	1.3%	2.5%
20 or more units	1.2%	3.0%
Mobile home & other	21.4%	11.6%

Poverty & households

	Hertford County	Polk County
Poverty rate	21.4%	13.7%
Average household size	2.24	2.22
Mean commute (minutes)	28	28
Median year structure built	1976	1982