Rowan County

The median income of households in Rowan County, North Carolina was $65,725. An estimated 5.9% of households had income below $10,000 a year and 6.5% had income of $200,000 or more.

An estimated 74% of households received earnings. An estimated 37.5% of households received Social Security and an estimated 27.8 % of households received retirement income other than Social Security. The average income from Social Security was $24,378. These income sources are not mutually exclusive; that is, some households received income from more than one source.

In 2020-2024, 16 % of people were in poverty. An estimated 23.3% of children under 18 were below the poverty level, compared with 10.5% of people 65 years old and over. An estimated 14.9% of people 18 to 64 years were below the poverty level.

In 2020-2024, 16 % of households received SNAP (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program). An estimated 51.4% of households that received SNAP had children under 18, and 29.8% of households that received SNAP had one or more people 60 years and over. An estimated 30.5% of all households receiving SNAP were families with a female householder and no spouse present.

Among the civilian noninstitutionalized population in Rowan County, North Carolina in 2020-2024, 90.7% had health insurance coverage and 9.3% did not have health insurance coverage. Private coverage was 62% and public coverage was 41.4%, respectively. The percentage of children under the age of 19 with no health insurance coverage was 4.2%.

In 2020-2024, Rowan County, North Carolina had a total population of 149,875 - 75,631 (50.5%) females and 74,244 (49.5%) males. The median age was 40.4 years. An estimated 22.2% of the population was under 18 years, 31.2% was 19 to 44 years, 26.7% was 45 to 64 years, and 17.7 % was 65 years and older.

In 2020-2024, there were 58,899 households in Rowan County, North Carolina. The average household size was 2.48 people.

Married-couple households made up 48.3% of the households in Rowan County, North Carolina while cohabiting couple households made up 7.4% of households. Female householders with no spouse or partner present were 27.4% of all households, while 17% of households had male householders with no spouse or partner present. Some households had one person, as 11.9% of households were male householders living alone, and 14.8% were female householders living alone, for a total of 26.7% of all households.

In Rowan County, North Carolina, 30.3% of all households had one or more people under the age of 18; 32.8% of all households had one or more people 65 years and over.

In 2020-2024, an estimated 93.7% of the people living in Rowan County, North Carolina were U.S. natives. 63.6% of the Rowan County, North Carolina population were living in the state where they were born.

Approximately 6.3% of Rowan County, North Carolina residents in 2020-2024 were foreign-born. 29.9% of foreign-born were naturalized U.S. citizens and an estimated 67.3 % entered the country before the year 2010.

Foreign-born residents of Rowan 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 2020-2024 for Rowan County, North Carolina.

Among people at least five years old living in Rowan County, North Carolina in 2020-2024, 10.9 % spoke a language other than English at home. Spanish was spoken by 9.1% of people at least five years old; 4.5% reported that they did not speak English "very well."

In 2020-2024, 89.3 % of the people at least one year old living in Rowan County, North Carolina were living in the same house one year earlier.

In 2020-2024, 88.9 % of people 25 years and over had at least graduated from high school and 23.3% had a bachelor's degree or higher. An estimated 11.1% did not complete high school.

The total school enrollment in Rowan County, North Carolina was 34,022 in 2020-2024. Nursery school enrollment was 1,529 and kindergarten through 12th grade enrollment was 24,416. College or graduate school enrollment was 8,077.

In Rowan County, North Carolina, among the civilian noninstitutionalized population in 2020-2024, 15.4 % reported a disability. The likelihood of having a disability varied by age - from 5.1% of people under 18 years old, to 13.1% of people 18 to 64 years old, and to 36.5% of those 65 and over.

In Rowan County, North Carolina, 56.7 % of the population 16 and over were employed; 40% were not currently in the labor force.

An estimated 81.9% of the people employed were private wage and salary workers; 13.2% were federal, state, or local government workers; and 4.8 % were self-employed in their own (not incorporated) business.

In 2020-2024, the civilian employed population 16 years and older in Rowan County, North Carolina worked in the following industries:

An estimated 78% of Rowan County, North Carolina workers drove to work alone in 2020-2024, and 10.2% carpooled. Among those who commuted to work, it took them on average 26.2 minutes to get to work.

In 2020-2024, Rowan County, North Carolina had a total of 64,975 housing units. Of these housing units, 73.1% 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"). 11.6% of the housing units were located in multi-unit structures, or those buildings that contained two or more apartments. 15.4% were mobile homes, while any remaining housing units were classified as "other," which included boats, recreational vehicles, vans, etc.

9.9% of the housing inventory was comprised of houses built since 2010, while 10.5% of the houses were first built in 1939 or earlier. The median number of rooms in all housing units in Rowan County, North Carolina was 5.6 rooms, and of these housing units 66.5% had three or more bedrooms.

In 2020-2024, Rowan County, North Carolina had 58,899 housing units that were occupied or had people living in them, while the remaining 6,076 were vacant. Of the occupied housing units, the percentage of these houses occupied by owners (also known as the homeownership rate) was 72.3% while renters occupied 27.7%. The average household size of owner-occupied houses was 2.56 and in renter-occupied houses it was 2.27.

4.3% of householders of these occupied houses had moved into their house since 2021, while 11.8% moved into their house in 1989 or earlier. Households without a vehicle available for personal use comprised 6.5% and another 31% had three or more vehicles available for use.

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

In 2020-2024, the median property value for owner-occupied houses in Rowan County, North Carolina was $238,400.

Of the owner-occupied households, 60.3 % had a mortgage. 39.7% 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 $1,429 and for owners without a mortgage it was $412.

For renter-occupied houses, the median gross rent for Rowan County, North Carolina was $1,013. 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.