There were 716 households, of which 17.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 28.1% were married couples living together, 7.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 61.9% were non-families. 35.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.01 and the average family size was 2.72. In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 5.9% under the age of 18, 72.8% from 18 to 24, 11.0% from 25 to 44, 7.0% from 45 to 64, and 3.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 21 years. Both the overall age distribution and the median age are driven by the presence of Western Carolina University. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.4 males  The median income for a household in the CDP was $19,688, and the median income for a family was $36,538. However, poverty statistics that are based on surveys of the entire population can be misleading in communities dominated by students, such as Cullowhee. Males had a median income of $26,161 versus $16,607 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $10,017. About 25.2% of families and 41.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 37.3% of those under age 18 and 9.6% of those age 65 or over. Western Carolina University is a constituent campus of the University of North Carolina system. WCU is the fifth oldest institution in the UNC system. It was founded in 1889 with a few hundred students in a small, one story wood building and has grown to have over 11,500  students with approximately 220 majors and concentrations for undergraduates, and more than 45 graduate-level programs of study. The campus covers approximately and takes up much of the Cullowhee Valley. There is one public Kindergarten-through-8th Grade School, Cullowhee Valley School, which was opened in 1994 and replaced a 30-year-old structure on the University's Campus. High School Students have had to attend Smoky Mountain High School in nearby Sylva since Cullowhee High School closed in 1988. Forest Hills, an incorporated village just south of Cullowhee, has had a proposal placed before it to become the town/city of Cullowhee, incorporating areas along Old Cullowhee Road and NC 107.