Northampton County vs Yancey County

A side-by-side comparison of Northampton County and Yancey County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Yancey County has the higher population (18,676 vs 17,212 in Northampton County). Yancey County has the higher median household income ($54,961 vs $47,935 in Northampton County). Yancey County has the higher median home value ($222,300 vs $102,200 in Northampton County).

Population, income & housing

	Northampton County	Yancey County
Population	17,212	18,676
Median age	51.6 yrs	47.9 yrs
Median household income	$47,935	$54,961
Median home value	$102,200	$222,300
Median gross rent	$749	$807
Housing units	10,620	11,317
Homeownership rate	73.2%	77.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	19.0%	23.0%
Unemployment rate	6.5%	6.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Northampton County	Yancey County
Population	19,946 → 17,212 (-13.7%)	17,760 → 18,676 (+5.2%)
Median household income	$37,146 → $47,935 (+29.0%)	$42,222 → $54,961 (+30.2%)
Median home value	$83,300 → $102,200 (+22.7%)	$157,100 → $222,300 (+41.5%)
Median gross rent	$717 → $749 (+4.5%)	$634 → $807 (+27.3%)

Northampton County

Population

19,94617,212

Median household income

$37,146$47,935

Median home value

$83,300$102,200

Median gross rent

$717$749

Yancey County

Population

17,76018,676

Median household income

$42,222$54,961

Median home value

$157,100$222,300

Median gross rent

$634$807

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Northampton County	Yancey County
Under 5	4.8%	5.1%
5 to 17	13.1%	13.3%
18 to 24	6.5%	6.3%
25 to 34	9.9%	10.8%
35 to 44	9.0%	10.4%
45 to 54	11.2%	12.8%
55 to 64	17.0%	14.6%
65 to 74	16.3%	15.4%
75 and over	12.2%	11.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Northampton County	Yancey County
White (non-Hispanic)	39.0%	91.3%
Black or African American	54.2%	0.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.1%
Asian	0.1%	0.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.0%
Two or more races	3.9%	1.9%
Hispanic or Latino	2.3%	5.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Northampton County	Yancey County
No high school diploma	15.5%	11.9%
High school graduate	33.8%	35.1%
Some college or associate's	31.7%	30.0%
Bachelor's degree	11.6%	15.1%
Graduate or professional degree	7.5%	7.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Northampton County	Yancey County
Drove alone	84.3%	80.4%
Carpooled	6.9%	7.3%
Public transit	0.0%	0.1%
Walked	0.4%	1.4%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	6.2%	8.7%
Other means	2.2%	2.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Northampton County	Yancey County
1-unit, detached	66.2%	72.0%
1-unit, attached	0.8%	0.8%
2 to 4 units	3.6%	3.3%
5 to 19 units	0.9%	2.6%
20 or more units	0.6%	1.4%
Mobile home & other	27.9%	20.0%

Poverty & households

	Northampton County	Yancey County
Poverty rate	20.0%	14.9%
Average household size	2.18	2.26
Mean commute (minutes)	28	28
Median year structure built	1979	1987