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The size of the U.S. immigrant population—more than 40 million in the 2012 American Community Survey—is the largest it has ever been. But the immigrant share of the total population, just under 13%, is still less than its historic peak in 1910, when 14.8% or more than 1 in 7 individuals were foreign-born. More than 750,000 immigrants lived in North Carolina in 2012, representing 1 of every 13 North Carolinians. Unlike the country as a…
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…
Memorial Day marks the beginning of summer rental season for many communities nationwide. In the decennial census, housing units that are classified as vacant for “seasonal, recreational, or occasional use” are typically referred to as “vacation” homes. The Census Bureau notes, “These may be large summer estates on Long Island, time-sharing condos in Fort Lauderdale, or simple fishing cabins in northern Michigan. Analysts often use this category to estimate the number of second homes in…
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…
After reading this article about trends in non-earned income, I became curious about the trends in overall personal income by source. The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis has a wealth of local and regional data. They report annual aggregate personal income, as well as the source of personal income. Because the BEA measures include the value of “in-kind” transfers, such as Food Stamps (SNAP) and medical payments from Medicaid/Medicare, they capture the…
Across the 16 universities in the UNC system, the proportion of incoming first-year students from out-of-state varies widely. Between 2009 and 2013, for example, nearly three-fifths of incoming first-year students at the UNC School of the Arts were from out-of-state; at the other extreme, only 4% at UNC Pembroke were from outside of North Carolina. Among the five largest schools, UNC Chapel Hill has the highest percentage of out-of-state students (17%), followed by East Carolina…
Between 2006 and 2011, growth in the U.S. population of children ages 0 to 17 was entirely due to growth in the number of children born to at least one immigrant parent. Over these 5 years, the population of children of immigrants grew 1.5 million, from 15.7 to 17.2 million. Nationally, the population of children of native-born parents fell slightly over this time period, from 55.6 to 55.0 million. In North Carolina, these trends are…
“One of the defining features of the Great Recession and not-so-great recovery has been the surge in long-term unemployment… Analysts have advanced several explanations for the persistence of long-term unemployment: an unintended consequence of extending jobless benefits; a mismatch between the skills unemployed workers have and what employers want; a breakdown in the efficiency of labor markets; or simply bad timing. Whatever the reason, it’s a major concern for policymakers, who fear that many of the long-term unemployed may never find their way back into…
On Monday, we took a county-by-county look at high school graduates' most likely college destination among North Carolina's 5 largest public universities. The map was East Carolina purple for 40 eastern counties, Appalachian State gold to the west, UNC-Charlotte green in Mecklenburg and surrounding counties, and NC State red in the piedmont (and a few counties to the east and west, as well). Because UNC-Chapel Hill pulls broadly from all counties but has a smaller…
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