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Statewide, the educational attainment of North Carolina’s adult population is similar to national patterns. Among North Carolina residents 25 and older: 17.8% have a bachelor’s degree 6.4% have a master’s degree 1.5% have a professional degree (e.g., MD or JD) 1.1% have a doctorate degree Within the state, North Carolina’s metropolitan areas have much higher concentrations of highly educated individuals. For example, 48% of adults in Wake and 40% of adults in Mecklenburg have a bachelor’s…
North Carolina is an attractive state for individuals of all ages. Our state’s colleges and universities and military bases draw young adults. Job opportunities in both lower-skill and high-tech industries bring more individuals to the state. And, when individuals are done working, they are increasingly choosing North Carolina as a place to retire. These factors, combined with the nationwide increase in international migration from 1990-2010, pulled many individuals to the state. Today, nearly half of…
“Poverty is a thief,” said Michael Reisch, a professor of social justice at the University of Maryland, testifying before a Senate panel on the issue. “Poverty not only diminishes a person’s life chances, it steals years from one’s life.” –from The New York Times Statewide life expectancy at birth is 78.2 years. Swain County has the lowest life expectancy (72.2) while Watauga has the highest (81.5), with Wake and Chatham close behind (81.3 years). On…
North Carolina is a sticky state; only Texas is stickier. (And I’m not talking about humidity.) “Sticky” states have a high percentage of adults who were born in the state still living there. Just as migration patterns highlight the relative appeal of a location—individuals tend to move to areas with greater opportunities and away from those without them—“stickiness” may be another gauge of an area’s attractiveness. The same educational and employment opportunities that bring people…
We are excited to announce NC in Focus, a new blog series that will appear on Thursdays. These posts will highlight North Carolina data in relation to current discussions about population trends at the national level. NC in Focus will consist primarily of a graph or chart with one or two sentences of explanation and links to the original articles that inspired our look into NC data. Nationally, teen births have fallen 52% from their…
Dynamics of population change at sub-county levels are key to understanding the local impacts of broader demographic shifts. Unfortunately, sub-county geographies, such as census tracts, change substantially from decade to decade, posing a barrier to direct comparison over time. To overcome this barrier, Carolina Demography developed a methodology to bridge (or normalize) the 2000 Census data into 2010 census tract boundaries. We then used 2010 Census data to directly compare change over time. The maps…
In the three years following the 2010 Census, North Carolina’s population grew by nearly 313,000 residents. With today’s release of the 2013 county population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau, we can now examine where in the state this growth occurred. Here’s what you need to know: 1. Charlotte and the Triangle accounted for 67% of NC population growth. Two-thirds of state population growth occurred in the 12 counties that make up the Charlotte and…
Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for children, teens, and young adults. Each year, there are more than 200,000 motor vehicle-related accidents in North Carolina. The cost of crashes to the state and its residents —including property damage, lost earnings and productivity, medical costs, emergency and safety personnel costs, and more—is in the billions each year. The University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center, an interdisciplinary research organization with the goal…
865,000 North Carolinians—nearly 9% of the total population—identified themselves as “Irish” on ancestry questions in the 2012 American Community Survey (ACS). (An additional quarter million identified themselves as Scotch-Irish, but this ethnic origin is considered distinct from Irish.) Among individuals specifying an ancestry or ethnic origin, Irish is the 5th most common in North Carolina after African-American, American, German, and English. The map below shows concentrations of individuals of Irish ancestry across the state by…
More than 200,000 North Carolina grandparents live with their grandchildren, representing 3.6% of the population 30 and older, according to 2008-2012 American Community Survey data. Half of these grandparents are responsible for the care of their grandchildren, meaning that they are providing for most of their basic needs. Most of these grandparents have been responsible for the care of their grandchildren for years: 40% have been providing for their grandchildren for 5 or more years,…
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