New Hanover County vs Union County

A side-by-side comparison of New Hanover County and Union County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Union County has the higher population (244,975 vs 231,214 in New Hanover County). Union County has the higher median household income ($99,243 vs $72,892 in New Hanover County). Union County has the higher median home value ($374,400 vs $353,700 in New Hanover County).

Population, income & housing

	New Hanover County	Union County
Population	231,214	244,975
Median age	40.1 yrs	39.1 yrs
Median household income	$72,892	$99,243
Median home value	$353,700	$374,400
Median gross rent	$1,343	$1,390
Housing units	117,236	86,730
Homeownership rate	60.7%	81.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	44.8%	39.0%
Unemployment rate	4.7%	4.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	New Hanover County	Union County
Population	227,938 → 231,214 (+1.4%)	231,053 → 244,975 (+6.0%)
Median household income	$54,891 → $72,892 (+32.8%)	$80,033 → $99,243 (+24.0%)
Median home value	$243,600 → $353,700 (+45.2%)	$241,400 → $374,400 (+55.1%)
Median gross rent	$1,031 → $1,343 (+30.3%)	$1,030 → $1,390 (+35.0%)

New Hanover County

Population

227,938231,214

Median household income

$54,891$72,892

Median home value

$243,600$353,700

Median gross rent

$1,031$1,343

Union County

Population

231,053244,975

Median household income

$80,033$99,243

Median home value

$241,400$374,400

Median gross rent

$1,030$1,390

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	New Hanover County	Union County
Under 5	4.7%	5.5%
5 to 17	13.6%	20.6%
18 to 24	12.1%	9.4%
25 to 34	13.1%	9.8%
35 to 44	12.6%	13.4%
45 to 54	12.3%	15.8%
55 to 64	13.0%	12.5%
65 to 74	11.3%	8.1%
75 and over	7.4%	5.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	New Hanover County	Union County
White (non-Hispanic)	75.1%	68.0%
Black or African American	11.1%	10.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.1%
Asian	1.4%	4.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.6%	0.4%
Two or more races	4.0%	3.5%
Hispanic or Latino	7.6%	12.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	New Hanover County	Union County
No high school diploma	6.4%	9.6%
High school graduate	18.0%	22.8%
Some college or associate's	30.8%	28.6%
Bachelor's degree	29.1%	25.6%
Graduate or professional degree	15.7%	13.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	New Hanover County	Union County
Drove alone	72.4%	70.8%
Carpooled	6.8%	9.3%
Public transit	0.2%	0.2%
Walked	1.4%	0.7%
Bicycle	0.5%	0.0%
Worked from home	17.8%	18.0%
Other means	0.8%	1.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	New Hanover County	Union County
1-unit, detached	61.0%	86.6%
1-unit, attached	5.6%	2.9%
2 to 4 units	8.0%	2.0%
5 to 19 units	12.3%	2.7%
20 or more units	10.4%	0.9%
Mobile home & other	2.8%	4.8%

Poverty & households

	New Hanover County	Union County
Poverty rate	12.4%	7.7%
Average household size	2.20	2.95
Mean commute (minutes)	21	30
Median year structure built	1992	1999