Mecklenburg County vs Wake County

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

Mecklenburg 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 1,130,906 in Mecklenburg County). Wake County has the higher median household income ($101,763 vs $83,765 in Mecklenburg County). Wake County has the higher median home value ($422,800 vs $371,200 in Mecklenburg County).

Population, income & housing

	Mecklenburg County	Wake County
Population	1,130,906	1,151,009
Median age	35.4 yrs	37.2 yrs
Median household income	$83,765	$101,763
Median home value	$371,200	$422,800
Median gross rent	$1,521	$1,508
Housing units	491,721	481,999
Homeownership rate	55.5%	64.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	48.6%	56.3%
Unemployment rate	4.2%	4.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Mecklenburg County	Wake County
Population	1,074,475 → 1,130,906 (+5.3%)	1,069,079 → 1,151,009 (+7.7%)
Median household income	$66,641 → $83,765 (+25.7%)	$80,591 → $101,763 (+26.3%)
Median home value	$238,000 → $371,200 (+56.0%)	$281,700 → $422,800 (+50.1%)
Median gross rent	$1,146 → $1,521 (+32.7%)	$1,150 → $1,508 (+31.1%)

Mecklenburg County

Population

1,074,4751,130,906

Median household income

$66,641$83,765

Median home value

$238,000$371,200

Median gross rent

$1,146$1,521

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)

	Mecklenburg County	Wake County
Under 5	6.4%	5.8%
5 to 17	16.6%	17.6%
18 to 24	9.1%	8.7%
25 to 34	17.1%	14.6%
35 to 44	14.7%	15.1%
45 to 54	13.2%	14.1%
55 to 64	11.1%	11.6%
65 to 74	7.3%	7.8%
75 and over	4.4%	4.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Mecklenburg County	Wake County
White (non-Hispanic)	43.9%	57.0%
Black or African American	30.1%	18.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	6.1%	8.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.6%
Two or more races	3.8%	3.8%
Hispanic or Latino	15.4%	11.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Mecklenburg County	Wake County
No high school diploma	9.2%	6.0%
High school graduate	16.4%	14.5%
Some college or associate's	25.8%	23.1%
Bachelor's degree	31.3%	33.8%
Graduate or professional degree	17.3%	22.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Mecklenburg County	Wake County
Drove alone	61.9%	64.4%
Carpooled	7.7%	6.1%
Public transit	1.9%	0.7%
Walked	1.6%	1.3%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.2%
Worked from home	25.5%	26.0%
Other means	1.2%	1.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Mecklenburg County	Wake County
1-unit, detached	55.6%	58.5%
1-unit, attached	8.5%	11.1%
2 to 4 units	3.3%	3.7%
5 to 19 units	15.2%	12.3%
20 or more units	15.8%	11.6%
Mobile home & other	1.5%	2.7%

Poverty & households

	Mecklenburg County	Wake County
Poverty rate	10.4%	7.9%
Average household size	2.45	2.54
Mean commute (minutes)	25	25
Median year structure built	1996	1999