Carolina Demographics
Keep up with our latest demographic insights
“English-speaking ability is an important topic surrounding immigration in the United States. For the foreign born, fluency in English is associated with greater earnings and occupational mobility. Conversely, the presence of many people with limited English ability requires state and local governments to make costly adjustments, such as providing English as a Second Language classes in schools and translating official forms into multiple languages.” - Christine Gambino, Yesenia Acosta, and Elizabeth Grieco, “English-Speaking Ability of…
While Catholicism and non-denominational churches are gaining adherents within the state, 2010 county patterns of religious affiliation reflect significant stability in North Carolina’s religious landscape. These maps of religious affiliation by county, measured as the denomination with the largest number of adherents according to the United States Census of Religious Bodies for 1916, 1926, and 1936, highlight this stability. As in 2010, Southern Baptist is the largest denominational affiliation statewide, United Methodist has a strong…
According to the most recent U.S. Religion Census, conducted in 2010, about half of the U.S. population (49% or nearly 151 million persons) are adherents to some religion. Nationwide, the largest denominational affiliation is Catholicism, with an estimated 59 million adherents. While Protestantism as a group has more than 77 million adherents, it is comprised of dozens of individual denominations. Among these, the Southern Baptist Convention is the second largest religious group in the United…
Between 2000 and 2010, North Carolina’s child population (ages 0 to 17) increased by almost 318,000 individuals. Unlike growth in the 65 and older population—which grew by more than 265,000 individuals and increased almost everywhere statewide—growth in the child population was uneven across the state. The child population shrank in 30 rural counties. The largest losses were in the eastern counties of Halifax (-2,387), Edgecombe (-1,188), and Martin (-1,098) and the western counties of Cleveland…
In a previous post, I looked at changes in the number and type of non-English languages spoken at home in North Carolina over time. Today, I’m looking at variation in languages spoken across space; that is, how do languages spoken vary across North Carolina counties? At an initial glance, there is little county-to-county variation. The majority of individuals age 5 and over in each county speak only English at home. Of those that speak another…
"Transportation for America's recent report, "Aging in Place: Stuck Without Options," shows that as we grow too old to drive safely, alternative transportation options are a necessity but often hard to find. Based on recent surveys, 88 percent of older adults continue to drive at age 65, but that percentage drops to 69 percent by age 75. This means that by age 75, 31 percent of seniors must seek alternative ways to get around. ...the not-so-distant future also includes…
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…
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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