NC in Focus
Keep up with our latest demographic insights
The majority of North Carolina’s growth over the past few decades has been from net migration, meaning more people moved here than moved away. Recent population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau indicated that about 70% of North Carolina’s estimated growth between April 1, 2010 and July 1, 2020, came from net migration. The other 30% of our state’s growth came from natural increase, meaning more births than deaths took place in our state. Where…
Early in the pandemic, many joked about the potential for enforced proximity in March to yield a baby boom later in the year. (Many others, including most demographers, suggested otherwise.) With preliminary data for 2020 births now in, there is clear evidence of a Covid-19 baby bust. Nationally, births declined 3.8 percent in 2020 compared with 2019, with faster declines occurring at the end of the year (November and December), when the first full impacts…
We publish an annual post with statistics about North Carolina’s veteran population. The most current version of that profile was published in November 2020. The profile contains the following information: Age of veterans vs. non-veterans Race & ethnicity of veterans vs. non-veterans Period of military service Labor force participation, income, and poverty of veterans vs. non-veterans Educational attainment of veterans vs. non-veterans In addition to this, we regularly answer questions about veterans in North Carolina…
The Verge recently published a county-by-county look at the broadband gap, showing counties across the country where less than 15 percent of households are using the internet at broadband speeds (25 Mbps or above.) In NC, 20 of our 100 counties meet this definition of "low broadband." A new program from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is trying to fill that gap. In late February, the FCC announced that they were launching a new Emergency…
On March 15, 2021, Stacey Carless, the Executive Director of the NC Counts Coalition, and I presented at the 2021 Rural Summit. We provided a detailed look into trends impacting North Carolina, an overview of the 2020 Census and redistricting, and highlighted how to use census and census-derived data in community planning. You can download a pdf of our presentation. During the Q&A session, we were asked questions about the Census and demographic data. The…
Way back in 2019, which now seems like eons ago, I wrote a column for Vox about the importance of the upcoming 2020 Census. It started off like this: “For demographers like me, the census is kind of like our Super Bowl, if the Super Bowl only took place once a decade — and if the foundation of your representative democracy hinged on the winner of the game.” The 2020 Census kicked off its nationwide…
Residents and employees of nursing homes and similar long-term care facilities (LTCFs) are more vulnerable to COVID-19 related illness and death than the general population. In fact, nationally 38% of COVID-19 deaths have been associated with LTCFs. Because of this, the Centers for Disease Control recommended that individuals in LTCFs be prioritized in COVID-19 vaccination distribution plans. In North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper’s vaccination rollout plan, he included long-term care residents and staff along with…
It’s been nearly a year since our lives were first disrupted by the global COVID-19 pandemic. What do cumulative case counts, deaths, and vaccination levels look like in North Carolina? Here’s the latest data according to NC DHHS data accessed on 2/11/2021. I used the projected 2020 population from the state demographer to calculate levels per 10,000 residents. COVID-19 Cases There have been 805,889 cases recorded in North Carolina counties or 758 per 10,000 residents.…
North Carolina’s Hispanic population is now greater than one million people, with 1,026,000 residents in 2019. The state’s Hispanic/Latino population grew from just over 75,000 in 1990 to 800,000 in 2010. Between 2010 and 2019, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates that North Carolina’s Hispanic population grew by 226,000 new residents, an increase of 28.3%, faster than the growth of this population nationwide (19.6%). The Hispanic/Latinx communities in Mecklenburg County (153K) and Wake County (116K) comprise…
We recently worked with the Chamber for a Greater Chapel Hill-Carrboro, the governments of the Towns of Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and Hillsborough, and Orange County to streamline existing processes for acquiring, updating, and maintaining the data they use for their community reports and presentations. As part of that work, we've released a series of reports looking at demographic and economic trends in Orange County, NC. Here are some highlights from Carolina Demography's report on community…
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