Welcome to our blog
Keep up with our latest demographic insights
Colleges and universities can have a significant impact on local demographic and economic statistics. College towns tend to see inflated poverty rates: more off-campus students (as share of population) corresponds to higher poverty rates. In Boone, North Carolina, for example, off-campus students at Appalachian State University make up 57% of the local population* and the local poverty rate is 62%. Some of these poor individuals may be college students who are choosing not to work…
Turkey production is important to the farming sector of North Carolina. In fact, total poultry production – including turkeys, eggs and broiler chickens – is North Carolina’s top agricultural industry, making up 40% of the state’s farm income. Data from the USDA on “turkey disappearance” per capita in the United States indicated a slight uptick from about 16 pounds annually from 2012-2015 to over 16.5 pounds in 2016 and 2017 (projected). As poultry consumption increases…
North Carolina’s agricultural industry contributes $84 billion to the state’s economy and employs more than 1 in 6 North Carolina Workers, according to the Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services. Two of the state’s lead agricultural products—sweet potatoes and turkeys—will grace many Thanksgiving tables on Thursday. Here’s a quick look at sweet potatoes by the numbers: 1st North Carolina’s rank in sweet potato production. North Carolina has led the nation in sweet potato production since…
As the month of October comes to a close, we reach the first holiday of the autumn season: Halloween. To help you prepare, we’ve put together a guide to the number of trick-or-treaters in the state this year, and a map of where one can expect to get the most visitors! We’ve also run the numbers on North Carolina’s contribution to the holiday, by way of its numerous candy factories and stores. This year, we…
Series note: This post and the others in this series are the outgrowth of a presentation jointly developed with Dr. Krista M. Perreira and presented by Dr. Perreira to the October meeting of the North Carolina Governor’s Hispanic/Latino Advisory Board. Terminology note: The U.S. Census Bureau introduced the term Hispanic in 1980 and this is a term preferred by some Hispanic/Latino populations. The term Latino became more commonly used in the 1990s and is preferred…
There is a newer version of this blog post available: North Carolina’s Hispanic Community: 2019 Snapshot Series note: This post and the next few in the series are the outgrowth of a presentation jointly developed with Dr. Krista M. Perreira and presented by Dr. Perreira to the October meeting of the North Carolina Governor’s Advisory Council on Hispanic/Latino Affairs. Terminology note: The U.S. Census Bureau introduced the term Hispanic in 1980 and this is a…
It’s hard to understand and process new information if we don’t have sufficient context and grounding in basic facts. A lot of what we do at Carolina Demography is help people understand the demographic facts at hand. The facts of interest are often very straightforward: how many people live in NC, where they live, how quickly populations are changing, etc. We make sure that individuals, organizations, and policy makers understand these basics so they can…
July 2015 to July 2016 was the largest year of population growth for the state of North Carolina for any single-year period since the last decennial Census (2010). This was also the case for 124 of North Carolina’s municipalities, including several with previously slim or even declining population growth. These places are labeled and represented by colored markers on the Story Map below. The table accompanying each point compares the numeric and percentage growth year-to-year…
In the next few months, the U.S. Census Bureau is releasing multiple data products that will provide new years of data, as well as some new detail not currently available. Here are the four most valuable updates for better understanding NC and its changing demographics: New county-to-county migration flow tables updated with 2011-15 data. The release of these tables and the update to the Census Flows Mapper web application will be the first time that non-overlapping…
Population can grow—or decline—from one of two components of change: net migration (both domestic and international) or natural growth (births and deaths). Both components have contributed to North Carolina’s population growth. Every year since 1980, North Carolina has had more births than deaths, meaning the population has grown from natural increase. The level of natural increase peaked in the late 2000s and has since declined significantly, reflecting the combined impact of fertility declines and population…
Your support is critical to our mission of measuring, understanding, and predicting population change and its impact. Donate to Carolina Demography today.