Carolina Demographics
Keep up with our latest demographic insights
Nationally, 2 in 3 individuals 15 and older have ever been married according to the 2013 American Community Survey. In North Carolina, this proportion is slightly higher: 68.2%. The vast majority (71%) of ever married North Carolinians are still married. Another sixteen percent are divorced, four percent are currently separated, and nine percent are widowed. Examining trends by age shows similar trends in North Carolina and the nation. The share of individuals ever married stays…
May 21, 2015 update: The original post defined compliance for U.S. Congressional Districts as within +/-1%. Although the courts require adherence to equal population as much as possible, the maximum potentially accepted deviation cited elsewhere is a total spread of 1%, meaning +/- 0.5%. Following the decennial Census, political districts, such as U.S. Congressional districts and state legislative districts, are redrawn in a process called redistricting. The goal is to make each district as close…
In 1870, fewer than 3% of U.S. workers were employed in professional services, a category that includes educational, engineering, legal, and medical services (including individuals working in hospitals). Just 1.5% of North Carolina workers were employed in professional service industries in 1870. Nationally, employment in professional services represented less than 5% of all employees until 1930. After that, the share of employees in professional services grew steadily through 1960, and grew even more rapidly between…
We know that Raleigh and Charlotte are among the fastest growing urban areas in the nation, while many rural areas of the state are facing population losses and stagnation. But if we know anything about the future with certainty, it’s that the future is inherently uncertain! How likely are these patterns? A new interactive tool from the Urban Institute uses historical trends and census data to map population projections for every state and metro area…
Forty-two percent of North Carolina residents were born in another state or country. In 1950, this proportion was only 15%. The share of North Carolina residents born in state declines steadily with age until prime working-ages, and then begins rising again. Between ages 27 and 50, more than half of North Carolina residents were born in another state or country. North Carolina’s trends in the proportion of native-born residents by age look similar to those of…
Recently, I’ve had some fun mapping the 13 counties that contain half of the state’s population, as well as the 42 least populated counties with 10% of North Carolina’s total population. In Monday’s post, I mentioned that there are significant racial/ethnic differences in the likelihood of living in a municipality. In particular, Asian residents are highly clustered in the state’s largest urban areas. To put this clustering in perspective, it takes 16 counties with the…
The turn of the century marked a key moment in North Carolina’s rural to urban transition: it was the first time in state history that a majority of residents were living in incorporated municipalities. Today, nearly 5.5 million individuals—56% of the state’s population—reside in one of the state’s 552 incorporated municipalities. These municipalities vary widely in key characteristics related to future growth and planning. The smallest—Fontana Dam Village in Graham County—contains 20 residents. At the…
North Carolina is now the 9th most populous state according to recent estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. Between July 1, 2013 and July 1, 2014, North Carolina gained an additional 95,047 residents to reach a population of 9.94 million, surpassing Michigan’s estimated 2014 population of 9.91 million. Some have noted that this is one of the smallest numerical increase in population the state has had since 1990. Like the nation, the combined impacts of…
2010 marked the first time the majority of the world’s population was living in urban areas (52%), up from 47% in 2000. The global share of population living in urban areas is projected to increase to two-thirds by 2050. In 1990, the nation’s population was heavily urban (78%). By 2010, more than four of every five U.S. residents was living in an urban area. In some states, such as California (95%) and New Jersey (94.7%), nearly…
5. Non-NC Native Population by County Two of every five North Carolina residents (42%) were born in another state or country, but this ranges from 14% in Bertie County to 74% in Currituck. 4. Top 10 Non-English Languages Spoken in North Carolina After English, Spanish has long been the most common language spoken in North Carolina, but 4 new languages entered the top 10 over the past 3 decades. 3. Why do people move to…
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