Our mission

We help people understand a changing North Carolina to make informed decisions.


We’re the applied demography unit of the Carolina Population Center at UNC-Chapel Hill. Applied demographers work directly with the public to help answer questions like:


  • How is our population changing?
  • How do economic and social factors play a role in our communities?
  • Which factors shape the health and wellbeing of North Carolinians?

Carolina Demography Alumni


Joanne Brosh, Ph.D.

Jessica Choi

Jane Fruehwirth, Ph.D.

Thomas Gomes, M.P.A.

Wei Gu, M.A.

Elliot Kent, Ph.D.

Elizabeth Ordoñez

Jessica Stanford

Rebecca Tippett, Ph.D.

Our history


We are a unit within the Carolina Population Center (CPC), one of the oldest and most distinguished population centers in the country. It was Paul Voss, then the interim director of CPC, who proposed building an applied demography unit within the center in 2012. Modeled after the Applied Population Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the vision for Carolina Demography was to help people and organizations across NC better understand the dynamic and rapidly changing state. UNC’s Office of Research provided seed money to fund the research consulting unit for six months.

Early projects included population projections and delivering presentations on migration patterns across NC.

Today, Carolina Demography continues to take on projects that help people better understand the implications of demographic change across the state of NC and make informed decisions.

A map of North Carolina counties that Carolina Demography has worked in.

We know North Carolina.

In addition to our broad, statewide projects that surface information from every NC county, we have directly worked in 76 counties across North Carolina.

For press


For press inquiries, contact us with your topic and deadline.

We check the inbox daily and will respond promptly.

Contact us »

Media services

Carolina Demography offers assistance to journalists working with Census data and other datasets. Our staff can:

  • Answer questions about population-level datasets.
  • Create fact sheets and news releases based on Census Bureau datasets.
  • Provide interviews on topics related to demographic trends in North Carolina.
  • Publish newsletters and blog posts about North Carolina and demography.
  • Assist you in locating relevant datasets and finding the information you need.

Media highlights


Southern Surge: North Carolina among 6 Southern states outpacing the Northeast in economic output

Swain County women have the lowest life expectancy in NC, report says

myFutureNC releases latest county attainment profiles

The Growing Impact and Influence of Latinos on the Charlotte Area

Pandemic spurs huge home school boom, but will it last?


View all media highlights

Want to learn more?

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Featured projects


Your support is critical to our mission of measuring, understanding, and predicting population change and its impact. Donate to Carolina Demography today.