Lee County vs Pender County

A side-by-side comparison of Lee County and Pender County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Lee County has the higher population (64,565 vs 63,475 in Pender County). Pender County has the higher median household income ($76,838 vs $63,060 in Lee County). Pender County has the higher median home value ($267,100 vs $213,800 in Lee County).

Population, income & housing

	Lee County	Pender County
Population	64,565	63,475
Median age	39.9 yrs	41.8 yrs
Median household income	$63,060	$76,838
Median home value	$213,800	$267,100
Median gross rent	$962	$1,072
Housing units	26,854	31,007
Homeownership rate	66.0%	81.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	21.6%	29.8%
Unemployment rate	4.0%	6.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Lee County	Pender County
Population	60,481 → 64,565 (+6.8%)	60,399 → 63,475 (+5.1%)
Median household income	$49,994 → $63,060 (+26.1%)	$57,240 → $76,838 (+34.2%)
Median home value	$144,200 → $213,800 (+48.3%)	$198,700 → $267,100 (+34.4%)
Median gross rent	$775 → $962 (+24.1%)	$919 → $1,072 (+16.6%)

Lee County

Population

60,48164,565

Median household income

$49,994$63,060

Median home value

$144,200$213,800

Median gross rent

$775$962

Pender County

Population

60,39963,475

Median household income

$57,240$76,838

Median home value

$198,700$267,100

Median gross rent

$919$1,072

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Lee County	Pender County
Under 5	6.2%	5.5%
5 to 17	17.7%	17.0%
18 to 24	8.3%	7.2%
25 to 34	12.6%	10.6%
35 to 44	12.9%	13.9%
45 to 54	12.2%	13.4%
55 to 64	13.3%	14.4%
65 to 74	10.1%	11.4%
75 and over	6.7%	6.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Lee County	Pender County
White (non-Hispanic)	56.4%	73.9%
Black or African American	17.5%	12.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	1.1%	0.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.5%
Two or more races	3.8%	3.9%
Hispanic or Latino	21.0%	8.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Lee County	Pender County
No high school diploma	14.9%	9.5%
High school graduate	26.9%	27.7%
Some college or associate's	36.6%	33.0%
Bachelor's degree	14.8%	19.7%
Graduate or professional degree	6.8%	10.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Lee County	Pender County
Drove alone	80.7%	75.7%
Carpooled	10.4%	11.3%
Public transit	0.2%	0.3%
Walked	1.5%	1.1%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.1%
Worked from home	5.7%	11.4%
Other means	1.4%	0.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Lee County	Pender County
1-unit, detached	68.3%	70.2%
1-unit, attached	0.7%	1.4%
2 to 4 units	7.1%	1.2%
5 to 19 units	7.3%	2.1%
20 or more units	2.1%	2.0%
Mobile home & other	14.5%	23.0%

Poverty & households

	Lee County	Pender County
Poverty rate	15.5%	10.7%
Average household size	2.58	2.58
Mean commute (minutes)	26	31
Median year structure built	1988	1997