Rutherford County vs Wilkes County

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

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

Wilkes County has the higher population (65,983 vs 64,850 in Rutherford County). Wilkes County has the higher median household income ($50,438 vs $49,771 in Rutherford County). Rutherford County has the higher median home value ($180,800 vs $161,400 in Wilkes County).

Population, income & housing

	Rutherford County	Wilkes County
Population	64,850	65,983
Median age	45.3 yrs	45.3 yrs
Median household income	$49,771	$50,438
Median home value	$180,800	$161,400
Median gross rent	$748	$715
Housing units	32,682	31,744
Homeownership rate	74.1%	73.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.7%	16.7%
Unemployment rate	5.5%	4.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Rutherford County	Wilkes County
Population	66,599 → 64,850 (-2.6%)	68,469 → 65,983 (-3.6%)
Median household income	$42,608 → $49,771 (+16.8%)	$44,107 → $50,438 (+14.4%)
Median home value	$118,300 → $180,800 (+52.8%)	$126,300 → $161,400 (+27.8%)
Median gross rent	$636 → $748 (+17.6%)	$632 → $715 (+13.1%)

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

Wilkes County

Population

68,46965,983

Median household income

$44,107$50,438

Median home value

$126,300$161,400

Median gross rent

$632$715

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Rutherford County	Wilkes County
Under 5	5.0%	5.0%
5 to 17	15.3%	15.1%
18 to 24	7.2%	7.7%
25 to 34	11.3%	11.1%
35 to 44	11.0%	10.8%
45 to 54	13.4%	13.1%
55 to 64	14.8%	14.6%
65 to 74	13.1%	13.1%
75 and over	9.0%	9.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Rutherford County	Wilkes County
White (non-Hispanic)	81.1%	86.1%
Black or African American	8.1%	3.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.2%
Asian	0.5%	0.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	0.7%	0.0%
Two or more races	3.9%	2.0%
Hispanic or Latino	5.4%	7.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Rutherford County	Wilkes County
No high school diploma	13.4%	18.1%
High school graduate	31.1%	32.4%
Some college or associate's	34.8%	32.8%
Bachelor's degree	13.3%	11.6%
Graduate or professional degree	7.4%	5.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Rutherford County	Wilkes County
Drove alone	81.2%	81.1%
Carpooled	9.0%	9.2%
Public transit	0.1%	0.2%
Walked	1.3%	1.1%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.0%
Worked from home	6.7%	8.1%
Other means	1.5%	0.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Rutherford County	Wilkes County
1-unit, detached	73.3%	68.0%
1-unit, attached	1.8%	0.2%
2 to 4 units	4.4%	3.8%
5 to 19 units	2.6%	2.5%
20 or more units	1.0%	1.8%
Mobile home & other	16.9%	23.7%

Poverty & households

	Rutherford County	Wilkes County
Poverty rate	17.6%	16.4%
Average household size	2.39	2.41
Mean commute (minutes)	26	27
Median year structure built	1980	1980