Macon County vs Person County

A side-by-side comparison of Macon County and Person County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Person County has the higher population (39,275 vs 37,533 in Macon County). Person County has the higher median household income ($64,927 vs $53,298 in Macon County). Macon County has the higher median home value ($229,000 vs $192,800 in Person County).

Population, income & housing

	Macon County	Person County
Population	37,533	39,275
Median age	50.1 yrs	43.9 yrs
Median household income	$53,298	$64,927
Median home value	$229,000	$192,800
Median gross rent	$791	$796
Housing units	27,070	18,482
Homeownership rate	76.3%	75.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	24.6%	19.8%
Unemployment rate	2.9%	3.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Macon County	Person County
Population	34,813 → 37,533 (+7.8%)	39,345 → 39,275 (-0.2%)
Median household income	$45,507 → $53,298 (+17.1%)	$51,020 → $64,927 (+27.3%)
Median home value	$165,600 → $229,000 (+38.3%)	$123,100 → $192,800 (+56.6%)
Median gross rent	$756 → $791 (+4.6%)	$694 → $796 (+14.7%)

Macon County

Population

34,81337,533

Median household income

$45,507$53,298

Median home value

$165,600$229,000

Median gross rent

$756$791

Person County

Population

39,34539,275

Median household income

$51,020$64,927

Median home value

$123,100$192,800

Median gross rent

$694$796

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Macon County	Person County
Under 5	4.4%	5.3%
5 to 17	13.6%	15.4%
18 to 24	6.8%	8.0%
25 to 34	9.6%	11.7%
35 to 44	10.1%	10.6%
45 to 54	11.3%	12.8%
55 to 64	15.4%	15.2%
65 to 74	16.8%	12.6%
75 and over	12.1%	8.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Macon County	Person County
White (non-Hispanic)	85.7%	64.8%
Black or African American	1.2%	25.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.1%
Asian	0.8%	0.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.1%
Two or more races	2.2%	3.3%
Hispanic or Latino	9.7%	5.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Macon County	Person County
No high school diploma	10.0%	10.9%
High school graduate	30.6%	34.8%
Some college or associate's	34.9%	34.4%
Bachelor's degree	15.7%	14.1%
Graduate or professional degree	8.8%	5.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Macon County	Person County
Drove alone	81.7%	75.9%
Carpooled	8.0%	6.7%
Public transit	0.2%	0.5%
Walked	1.4%	1.2%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	7.0%	11.6%
Other means	1.8%	4.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Macon County	Person County
1-unit, detached	74.9%	75.8%
1-unit, attached	1.3%	0.5%
2 to 4 units	3.2%	2.1%
5 to 19 units	2.8%	2.8%
20 or more units	1.3%	0.8%
Mobile home & other	16.5%	17.9%

Poverty & households

	Macon County	Person County
Poverty rate	14.4%	18.4%
Average household size	2.06	2.39
Mean commute (minutes)	23	30
Median year structure built	1987	1984