County McDowell County, North Carolina - Population, Income & Demographics

The median income of households in McDowell County, North Carolina was $55,527. An estimated 4.8% of households had income below $10,000 a year and 3.4% had income of $200,000 or more.

An estimated 68.6% of households received earnings. An estimated 40.8% of households received Social Security and an estimated 31.8 % of households received retirement income other than Social Security. The average income from Social Security was $23,881. These income sources are not mutually exclusive; that is, some households received income from more than one source.

In 2019-2023, 14 % of people were in poverty. An estimated 17.5% of children under 18 were below the poverty level, compared with 10.3% of people 65 years old and over. An estimated 14.1% of people 18 to 64 years were below the poverty level.

In 2019-2023, 18.3 % of households received SNAP (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program). An estimated 41.6% of households that received SNAP had children under 18, and 50.8% of households that received SNAP had one or more people 60 years and over. An estimated 28.6% of all households receiving SNAP were families with a female householder and no spouse present.

Among the civilian noninstitutionalized population in McDowell County, North Carolina in 2019-2023, 88.3% had health insurance coverage and 11.7% did not have health insurance coverage. Private coverage was 62% and public coverage was 43.4%, respectively. The percentage of children under the age of 19 with no health insurance coverage was 3.7%.

In 2019-2023, McDowell County, North Carolina had a total population of 44,679 - 22,237 (49.8%) females and 22,442 (50.2%) males. The median age was 44.3 years. An estimated 19.7% of the population was under 18 years, 29.2% was 19 to 44 years, 28.2% was 45 to 64 years, and 20.7 % was 65 years and older.

In 2019-2023, there were 18,445 households in McDowell County, North Carolina. The average household size was 2.34 people.

Married-couple households made up 52.8% of the households in McDowell County, North Carolina while cohabiting couple households made up 4.9% of households. Female householders with no spouse or partner present were 26% of all households, while 16.3% of households had male householders with no spouse or partner present. Some households had one person, as 10.9% of households were male householders living alone, and 14.3% were female householders living alone, for a total of 25.2% of all households.

In McDowell County, North Carolina, 28.6% of all households had one or more people under the age of 18; 35.7% of all households had one or more people 65 years and over.

In 2019-2023, an estimated 96.2% of the people living in McDowell County, North Carolina were U.S. natives. 72.2% of the McDowell County, North Carolina population were living in the state where they were born.

Approximately 3.8% of McDowell County, North Carolina residents in 2019-2023 were foreign-born. 26.4% of foreign-born were naturalized U.S. citizens and an estimated 62.3 % entered the country before the year 2010.

Foreign-born residents of McDowell County, North Carolina come from different parts of the world. The bar graph below displays the percentage of foreign-born from each world region of birth in 2019-2023 for McDowell County, North Carolina.

Among people at least five years old living in McDowell County, North Carolina in 2019-2023, 7.6 % spoke a language other than English at home. Spanish was spoken by 5.7% of people at least five years old; 2.5% reported that they did not speak English "very well."

In 2019-2023, 89.8 % of the people at least one year old living in McDowell County, North Carolina were living in the same house one year earlier.

In 2019-2023, 86.1 % of people 25 years and over had at least graduated from high school and 17.6% had a bachelor's degree or higher. An estimated 13.9% did not complete high school.

The total school enrollment in McDowell County, North Carolina was 8,805 in 2019-2023. Nursery school enrollment was 450 and kindergarten through 12th grade enrollment was 6,653. College or graduate school enrollment was 1,702.

In McDowell County, North Carolina, among the civilian noninstitutionalized population in 2019-2023, 17.3 % reported a disability. The likelihood of having a disability varied by age - from 4.1% of people under 18 years old, to 14.2% of people 18 to 64 years old, and to 39.3% of those 65 and over.

In McDowell County, North Carolina, 50.7 % of the population 16 and over were employed; 46.8% were not currently in the labor force.

An estimated 76.5% of the people employed were private wage and salary workers; 17.6% were federal, state, or local government workers; and 5.7 % were self-employed in their own (not incorporated) business.

In 2019-2023, the civilian employed population 16 years and older in McDowell County, North Carolina worked in the following industries:

An estimated 83.6% of McDowell County, North Carolina workers drove to work alone in 2019-2023, and 8.9% carpooled. Among those who commuted to work, it took them on average 24.9 minutes to get to work.

In 2019-2023, McDowell County, North Carolina had a total of 21,475 housing units. Of these housing units, 69.6% were single-family houses either not attached to any other structure or attached to one or more structures (commonly referred to as "townhouses" or "row houses"). 4.5% of the housing units were located in multi-unit structures, or those buildings that contained two or more apartments. 25.1% were mobile homes, while any remaining housing units were classified as "other," which included boats, recreational vehicles, vans, etc.

8.8% of the housing inventory was comprised of houses built since 2010, while 7.2% of the houses were first built in 1939 or earlier. The median number of rooms in all housing units in McDowell County, North Carolina was 5.4 rooms, and of these housing units 63.5% had three or more bedrooms.

In 2019-2023, McDowell County, North Carolina had 18,445 housing units that were occupied or had people living in them, while the remaining 3,030 were vacant. Of the occupied housing units, the percentage of these houses occupied by owners (also known as the homeownership rate) was 74% while renters occupied 26%. The average household size of owner-occupied houses was 2.39 and in renter-occupied houses it was 2.21.

8.6% of householders of these occupied houses had moved into their house since 2021, while 14.2% moved into their house in 1989 or earlier. Households without a vehicle available for personal use comprised 6.4% and another 29.3% had three or more vehicles available for use.

The following chart provides the primary fuel used to heat houses in McDowell County, North Carolina:

In 2019-2023, the median property value for owner-occupied houses in McDowell County, North Carolina was $168,300.

Of the owner-occupied households, 48.8 % had a mortgage. 51.2% owned their houses "free and clear," that is without a primary mortgage or loan on the house. The median monthly housing costs for owners with a mortgage was $1,130 and for owners without a mortgage it was $318.

For renter-occupied houses, the median gross rent for McDowell County, North Carolina was $741. Gross rent includes the monthly contract rent and any monthly payments made for electricity, gas, water and sewer, and any other fuels to heat the house.