Pamlico County vs Swain County

A side-by-side comparison of Pamlico County and Swain County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Swain County has the higher population (14,065 vs 12,315 in Pamlico County). Pamlico County has the higher median household income ($61,624 vs $55,429 in Swain County). Both have a median home value of $209,800.

Population, income & housing

	Pamlico County	Swain County
Population	12,315	14,065
Median age	54.1 yrs	42.6 yrs
Median household income	$61,624	$55,429
Median home value	$209,800	$209,800
Median gross rent	$909	$715
Housing units	7,239	8,529
Homeownership rate	83.3%	73.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	25.4%	21.3%
Unemployment rate	4.5%	8.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Pamlico County	Swain County
Population	12,701 → 12,315 (-3.0%)	14,260 → 14,065 (-1.4%)
Median household income	$46,728 → $61,624 (+31.9%)	$39,317 → $55,429 (+41.0%)
Median home value	$156,000 → $209,800 (+34.5%)	$139,100 → $209,800 (+50.8%)
Median gross rent	$767 → $909 (+18.5%)	$642 → $715 (+11.4%)

Pamlico County

Population

12,70112,315

Median household income

$46,728$61,624

Median home value

$156,000$209,800

Median gross rent

$767$909

Swain County

Population

14,26014,065

Median household income

$39,317$55,429

Median home value

$139,100$209,800

Median gross rent

$642$715

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Pamlico County	Swain County
Under 5	3.4%	4.9%
5 to 17	10.8%	17.2%
18 to 24	6.0%	8.7%
25 to 34	8.7%	11.3%
35 to 44	10.7%	11.7%
45 to 54	12.0%	13.0%
55 to 64	17.6%	13.5%
65 to 74	18.1%	11.4%
75 and over	12.6%	8.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Pamlico County	Swain County
White (non-Hispanic)	74.0%	60.3%
Black or African American	18.5%	1.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	28.2%
Asian	0.6%	0.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.2%	4.4%
Hispanic or Latino	4.6%	5.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Pamlico County	Swain County
No high school diploma	10.0%	12.9%
High school graduate	31.3%	35.2%
Some college or associate's	33.4%	30.7%
Bachelor's degree	13.9%	12.3%
Graduate or professional degree	11.5%	9.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Pamlico County	Swain County
Drove alone	82.3%	81.6%
Carpooled	4.2%	8.6%
Public transit	0.5%	1.3%
Walked	0.3%	1.2%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.0%
Worked from home	10.7%	5.4%
Other means	1.9%	1.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Pamlico County	Swain County
1-unit, detached	69.6%	67.1%
1-unit, attached	0.9%	0.8%
2 to 4 units	2.2%	3.6%
5 to 19 units	1.8%	2.0%
20 or more units	0.2%	0.2%
Mobile home & other	25.3%	26.2%

Poverty & households

	Pamlico County	Swain County
Poverty rate	12.4%	21.1%
Average household size	2.19	2.35
Mean commute (minutes)	24	21
Median year structure built	1988	1989