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Levels of postsecondary educational attainment have risen steadily in recent decades. In 1970, only 19% of North Carolina adults ages 25-64 had any postsecondary education, six percentage points less than the national rate of 25%. Though adult postsecondary attainment in the state increased in 1980 and again in 1990, a large gap remained between North Carolina and the nation. This gap narrowed to two percentage points in 2000. By 2010, postsecondary attainment in North Carolina…
The U.S. Census Bureau's July 1, 2015, population estimates revealed significant differences in population growth by age group, highlighting major impacts of population aging since 2010. There were also differences in state-by-state population growth. For example, more than half of states reported fewer working-age adults and fewer children in 2015 than in 2010. At the same time, every state saw large increases in the size of their 65+ populations. This post highlights some of the major age…
One of my favorite stories of North Carolina’s demographic growth and change is the “halfback.” These are transplanted Northerners, moving out of Florida to mid-south states halfway back to the North -- to the Carolinas, Virginia, Tennessee, and Georgia. In North Carolina, much of the conversation focuses on the large in-flow of New Yorkers into the state. There are significant anecdotal reports of the halfback phenomenon, but what do the data say? In the most…
The oldest Baby Boomers began turning 65 on January 1, 2011. Every day since then, about 10,000 Baby Boomers have turned 65. This will continue through the end of 2029. Less than five years into this process, U.S. Census Bureau population estimates for July 1, 2015 already reveal significant impacts of the Boomer’s population aging. In 2010, just under 13% of North Carolina’s population was 65 or older. Five years later, in 2015, this proportion…
The percentage of North Carolina adults with a bachelor’s degree or higher rose from 22.8% in 2001 to 28.6% in 2014, according to data from the American Community Survey. Asian-Americans had the highest educational attainment, with more than half of North Carolina’s Asian adults holding a bachelor’s degree or higher in 2014. Non-Hispanic whites also had higher rates of holding bachelor’s degrees than the state overall: 32.4%. The percentage of Asian adults holding a bachelor’s…
In March 2015, there were 7.1 million eligible voters (citizens 18+) living in the state according to estimates from the Current Population Survey. Of these, 557,000 or 8% moved to North Carolina between 2010 and 2015. This post provides a brief profile of these new to North Carolina potential voters. Origin The largest share moved from Florida (88K), representing 16% of all eligible voters new to North Carolina since 2010. Another 67,000 or 12% moved…
In 2015, Charlotte and Raleigh were among both the top 50 largest cities in the United States and the top 50 in numeric population growth since 2010, according to recent estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. As of July 1, 2015: Charlotte (827,097) was the 17th largest city in the United States, following Ft. Worth, TX, and ahead of Seattle, WA. It had the 9th largest numeric growth between 2010 and 2015, gaining more than…
North Carolina’s population grew by 5.3% between 2010 and 2015, faster than the national growth rate of 4.1%. Nationwide, this was the 15th fastest growth rate among the states. Seven of the 15 fastest-growing states were southern states (a U.S. Census Bureau regional definition that includes Delaware, the District of Columbia, and West Virginia), six were western states, such as Colorado and Utah, and two—North and South Dakota—were Midwestern. Among the 17 southern states, North Carolina…
According to population projections from the North Carolina Office of State Budget and Management, North Carolina’s population growth will be steady over the decade. The state grew by just over half a million between 2010 and 2015 and is projected to add another half million residents between 2015 and 2020. During the 1980s, North Carolina’s population growth was similarly even across the decade, but different growth patterns emerged over the next 20 years. In both…
“The US homeownership rate reached 63.4% in the second quarter of 2015, the lowest level in almost fifty years. The homeownership rate is especially low among millennials, and continues to decline each quarter. There are many factors affecting this trend – rising rents, student loans, and delayed marriages, for example – making it difficult to forecast trends in millennial homeownership… Our research suggests that affordability is the biggest barrier to homeownership, with 77% of millennials…
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