Rutherford County vs Stanly County

A side-by-side comparison of Rutherford County and Stanly County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Rutherford County has the higher population (64,850 vs 63,557 in Stanly County). Stanly County has the higher median household income ($61,631 vs $49,771 in Rutherford County). Stanly County has the higher median home value ($214,300 vs $180,800 in Rutherford County).

Population, income & housing

	Rutherford County	Stanly County
Population	64,850	63,557
Median age	45.3 yrs	40.6 yrs
Median household income	$49,771	$61,631
Median home value	$180,800	$214,300
Median gross rent	$748	$830
Housing units	32,682	28,292
Homeownership rate	74.1%	73.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.7%	19.7%
Unemployment rate	5.5%	4.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Rutherford County	Stanly County
Population	66,599 → 64,850 (-2.6%)	61,588 → 63,557 (+3.2%)
Median household income	$42,608 → $49,771 (+16.8%)	$52,623 → $61,631 (+17.1%)
Median home value	$118,300 → $180,800 (+52.8%)	$138,900 → $214,300 (+54.3%)
Median gross rent	$636 → $748 (+17.6%)	$708 → $830 (+17.2%)

Rutherford County

Population

66,59964,850

Median household income

$42,608$49,771

Median home value

$118,300$180,800

Median gross rent

$636$748

Stanly County

Population

61,58863,557

Median household income

$52,623$61,631

Median home value

$138,900$214,300

Median gross rent

$708$830

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Rutherford County	Stanly County
Under 5	5.0%	5.6%
5 to 17	15.3%	16.1%
18 to 24	7.2%	8.0%
25 to 34	11.3%	13.2%
35 to 44	11.0%	11.5%
45 to 54	13.4%	12.7%
55 to 64	14.8%	13.8%
65 to 74	13.1%	11.1%
75 and over	9.0%	7.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Rutherford County	Stanly County
White (non-Hispanic)	81.1%	79.0%
Black or African American	8.1%	11.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.0%
Asian	0.5%	1.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.3%
Some other race	0.7%	0.0%
Two or more races	3.9%	2.5%
Hispanic or Latino	5.4%	5.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Rutherford County	Stanly County
No high school diploma	13.4%	12.9%
High school graduate	31.1%	31.6%
Some college or associate's	34.8%	35.8%
Bachelor's degree	13.3%	14.8%
Graduate or professional degree	7.4%	4.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Rutherford County	Stanly County
Drove alone	81.2%	80.0%
Carpooled	9.0%	10.5%
Public transit	0.1%	0.4%
Walked	1.3%	0.8%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.0%
Worked from home	6.7%	7.7%
Other means	1.5%	0.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Rutherford County	Stanly County
1-unit, detached	73.3%	79.7%
1-unit, attached	1.8%	0.4%
2 to 4 units	4.4%	4.8%
5 to 19 units	2.6%	2.5%
20 or more units	1.0%	0.7%
Mobile home & other	16.9%	12.0%

Poverty & households

	Rutherford County	Stanly County
Poverty rate	17.6%	14.2%
Average household size	2.39	2.52
Mean commute (minutes)	26	29
Median year structure built	1980	1975