Durham

Population & Demographics

Durham, NC

Durham is home to 291,467 people. Explore its demographics, housing, and economy — plus how its 132,699 resident workers commute each day.

North CarolinaCensus ACS 5-Year · LODES 2023
291,467
people
Population

291,467 residents

Median age 35.1. Total population of Durham, from the U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year (2024).

Durham population & demographics

Who lives in Durham — population, age, housing, and income, from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Population
291,467
Median age
35.1yrs
Median household income
$81,619
Median home value
$392,800
Median gross rent
$1,508/mo
Bachelor’s degree or higher
57.3%
Poverty rate
11.7%

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (ACS) 2024 5-Year Estimates. Values shown as “—” are suppressed or unavailable for this place.

Durham at a glance
Employed Residents
132,699
Fewer than the city’s total population
Median home–work distance
18.2mi
Straight-line, not road distance
Work Locally
42.0%
Share working within the area
Work from home
23.3%
Residents who work from home (ACS)
Top destination outside city
Raleigh
Excludes local — most work in-city

These figures are for Durham proper — the Census place within its city limits — not the surrounding metro area. Metro-wide totals you’ll see elsewhere are larger because they bundle in neighboring cities and suburbs.

How Durham commutes

Every dot is a worker moving between home and job. Trace where the area pulls people in from — and where its residents head each day.

66
Commute Score

66 / 100

How short the typical commute is here, on an absolute 0–100 scale (higher is shorter). How it’s calculated.

Durham

132,699 commutes, one dot at a time

Durham

Where 132,699 workers commute

Each dot ≈ 75 workers

Where residents work

Top destinations for people who live in Durham, by worker count.

1Durham0.0 mi55,694
2Raleigh18.2 mi17,501
3Chapel Hill8.8 mi9,124
4Cary13.9 mi6,433
5Charlotte121.0 mi3,881
6Morrisville10.5 mi3,214
7Greensboro51.7 mi2,084
8Winston-Salem76.7 mi1,137

Who commutes in

Top origin places for workers who travel into Durham.

1Durham0.0 mi55,694
2Raleigh18.2 mi22,706
3Cary13.9 mi11,238
4Chapel Hill8.8 mi4,516
5Apex17.4 mi4,439
6Charlotte121.0 mi3,782
7Morrisville10.5 mi2,639
8Wake Forest21.8 mi2,419

Top industries

The sectors that employ Durham’s workforce. Each bar is scaled to that sector’s share of all local jobs — the top sectors shown don’t add up to 100%.

Bar length = each sector’s share of all local jobs (0–100%)
HCHealth Care and Social Assistance20.9%
EDEducational Services16.7%
PTProfessional, Scientific, and Technical Services13.7%
RTRetail Trade7.1%
AFAccommodation and Food Services6.6%
MFManufacturing5.7%
ADAdministrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services5.4%
FIFinance and Insurance4.1%
WSWholesale Trade3.4%
Connectivity

Internet options for Durham

The biggest home-internet providers in the area — tap any to compare local plans.

7 providers · 4 with fiber
Speed availabilityshare of homes a plan reaches
1 Gbps~all homes
2 Gbps92%
5 Gbps82%
8 Gbps30%
See all internet providers in Durham

FindBetterInternet is a CensusFlow partner site — we link out so you can compare local plans, and CensusFlow’s Census data stays independent. Provider data is from the FCC National Broadband Map (satellite + fixed wireless excluded).