Gastonia

Population & Demographics

Gastonia, NC

Gastonia is home to 82,884 people. Explore its demographics, housing, and economy — plus how its 40,895 resident workers commute each day.

North CarolinaCensus ACS 5-Year · LODES 2023
82,884
people
Population

82,884 residents

Median age 36.5 · U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-Year (2024).

Gastonia population & demographics

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

Population
82,884
Median age
36.5yrs
Median household income
$64,059
Median home value
$277,600
Median gross rent
$1,204/mo
Bachelor’s degree or higher
26.6%
Poverty rate
16.3%

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

Race & ethnicity in Gastonia

How Gastonia breaks down by race and ethnicity — each bar is that group’s share of the population, from the U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year (2024).

White51.0%
Black29.0%
Hispanic or Latino12.8%
Two or more races5.1%
Asian1.3%
Some other race0.7%
American Indian / Alaska Native0.1%
Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander0.0%

Race across Gastonia

Each dot is a group of people, placed in their 2020 Census block and colored by race or ethnicity — the pattern shows where groups live across Gastonia.

Gastonia at a glance
Employed Residents
40,895
Fewer than the city’s total population
Median home–work distance
20.0mi
Straight-line, not road distance
Work Locally
22.5%
Share working within the area
Work from home
12.0%
Residents who work from home (ACS)
Top destination outside city
Charlotte
Excludes local — most work in-city

These figures are for Gastonia 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 Gastonia 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.

52
Commute Score

52 / 100

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

Gastonia

40,895 commutes, one dot at a time

Gastonia

Where 40,895 workers commute

Each dot ≈ 75 workers

Where residents work

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

1Charlotte20.0 mi12,090
2Gastonia0.0 mi9,191
3Raleigh148.5 mi811
4Belmont8.1 mi684
5Concord33.0 mi631
6Mount Holly9.8 mi597
7Kings Mountain9.5 mi562
8Shelby20.5 mi493

Who commutes in

Top origin places for workers who travel into Gastonia.

1Gastonia0.0 mi9,191
2Charlotte20.0 mi4,544
3Belmont8.1 mi941
4Mount Holly9.8 mi865
5Kings Mountain9.5 mi838
6Shelby20.5 mi676
7Dallas4.3 mi668
8Bessemer City6.2 mi616

Top industries

The sectors that employ Gastonia’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 Assistance24.0%
RTRetail Trade14.5%
MFManufacturing13.7%
AFAccommodation and Food Services9.7%
PAPublic Administration8.2%
ADAdministrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services6.8%
EDEducational Services5.0%
COConstruction4.6%
PTProfessional, Scientific, and Technical Services2.3%
Connectivity

Internet options for Gastonia

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

4 providers · 2 with fiber
Speed availabilityshare of homes a plan reaches
1 Gbps~all homes
2 Gbps97%
5 Gbps96%
8 Gbps
See all internet providers in Gastonia

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).