Rutherford County vs Surry County

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

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

Surry County has the higher population (71,407 vs 64,850 in Rutherford County). Surry County has the higher median household income ($56,095 vs $49,771 in Rutherford County). Rutherford County has the higher median home value ($180,800 vs $166,400 in Surry County).

Population, income & housing

	Rutherford County	Surry County
Population	64,850	71,407
Median age	45.3 yrs	43.7 yrs
Median household income	$49,771	$56,095
Median home value	$180,800	$166,400
Median gross rent	$748	$741
Housing units	32,682	33,609
Homeownership rate	74.1%	73.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.7%	19.4%
Unemployment rate	5.5%	5.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Rutherford County	Surry County
Population	66,599 → 64,850 (-2.6%)	71,971 → 71,407 (-0.8%)
Median household income	$42,608 → $49,771 (+16.8%)	$43,597 → $56,095 (+28.7%)
Median home value	$118,300 → $180,800 (+52.8%)	$126,900 → $166,400 (+31.1%)
Median gross rent	$636 → $748 (+17.6%)	$628 → $741 (+18.0%)

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

Surry County

Population

71,97171,407

Median household income

$43,597$56,095

Median home value

$126,900$166,400

Median gross rent

$628$741

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Rutherford County	Surry County
Under 5	5.0%	5.2%
5 to 17	15.3%	15.9%
18 to 24	7.2%	7.8%
25 to 34	11.3%	11.2%
35 to 44	11.0%	11.3%
45 to 54	13.4%	13.2%
55 to 64	14.8%	14.6%
65 to 74	13.1%	12.0%
75 and over	9.0%	8.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Rutherford County	Surry County
White (non-Hispanic)	81.1%	81.6%
Black or African American	8.1%	3.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.1%
Asian	0.5%	0.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	0.7%	0.2%
Two or more races	3.9%	1.8%
Hispanic or Latino	5.4%	12.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Rutherford County	Surry County
No high school diploma	13.4%	17.4%
High school graduate	31.1%	28.5%
Some college or associate's	34.8%	34.7%
Bachelor's degree	13.3%	13.0%
Graduate or professional degree	7.4%	6.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Rutherford County	Surry County
Drove alone	81.2%	80.9%
Carpooled	9.0%	12.1%
Public transit	0.1%	0.1%
Walked	1.3%	0.9%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.1%
Worked from home	6.7%	5.5%
Other means	1.5%	0.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Rutherford County	Surry County
1-unit, detached	73.3%	66.4%
1-unit, attached	1.8%	1.4%
2 to 4 units	4.4%	4.1%
5 to 19 units	2.6%	3.4%
20 or more units	1.0%	1.9%
Mobile home & other	16.9%	22.8%

Poverty & households

	Rutherford County	Surry County
Poverty rate	17.6%	16.7%
Average household size	2.39	2.40
Mean commute (minutes)	26	25
Median year structure built	1980	1980