Lenoir County vs Watauga County

A side-by-side comparison of Lenoir County and Watauga County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Lenoir County has the higher population (54,917 vs 54,607 in Watauga County). Watauga County has the higher median household income ($51,367 vs $44,795 in Lenoir County). Watauga County has the higher median home value ($321,500 vs $111,400 in Lenoir County).

Population, income & housing

	Lenoir County	Watauga County
Population	54,917	54,607
Median age	42.2 yrs	32.2 yrs
Median household income	$44,795	$51,367
Median home value	$111,400	$321,500
Median gross rent	$814	$1,066
Housing units	26,767	33,028
Homeownership rate	59.3%	61.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.8%	47.7%
Unemployment rate	7.2%	9.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Lenoir County	Watauga County
Population	56,756 → 54,917 (-3.2%)	54,925 → 54,607 (-0.6%)
Median household income	$39,402 → $44,795 (+13.7%)	$47,526 → $51,367 (+8.1%)
Median home value	$95,500 → $111,400 (+16.6%)	$238,000 → $321,500 (+35.1%)
Median gross rent	$717 → $814 (+13.5%)	$870 → $1,066 (+22.5%)

Lenoir County

Population

56,75654,917

Median household income

$39,402$44,795

Median home value

$95,500$111,400

Median gross rent

$717$814

Watauga County

Population

54,92554,607

Median household income

$47,526$51,367

Median home value

$238,000$321,500

Median gross rent

$870$1,066

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Lenoir County	Watauga County
Under 5	5.7%	3.0%
5 to 17	17.0%	9.4%
18 to 24	7.8%	30.5%
25 to 34	11.4%	10.2%
35 to 44	10.8%	9.4%
45 to 54	11.7%	9.6%
55 to 64	14.4%	11.2%
65 to 74	12.3%	10.2%
75 and over	8.8%	6.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Lenoir County	Watauga County
White (non-Hispanic)	48.0%	88.9%
Black or African American	39.4%	1.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	0.8%	1.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.1%
Two or more races	2.9%	2.0%
Hispanic or Latino	8.4%	6.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Lenoir County	Watauga County
No high school diploma	17.5%	7.6%
High school graduate	32.7%	20.8%
Some college or associate's	34.0%	24.0%
Bachelor's degree	10.3%	25.8%
Graduate or professional degree	5.5%	21.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Lenoir County	Watauga County
Drove alone	82.6%	74.7%
Carpooled	12.1%	9.9%
Public transit	0.5%	1.2%
Walked	1.2%	3.9%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.1%
Worked from home	2.9%	9.6%
Other means	0.7%	0.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Lenoir County	Watauga County
1-unit, detached	60.1%	64.7%
1-unit, attached	1.7%	1.5%
2 to 4 units	7.5%	8.0%
5 to 19 units	5.9%	12.1%
20 or more units	2.9%	5.7%
Mobile home & other	22.0%	8.0%

Poverty & households

	Lenoir County	Watauga County
Poverty rate	22.5%	24.7%
Average household size	2.34	2.29
Mean commute (minutes)	24	21
Median year structure built	1977	1987