Carolina Demographics
Keep up with our latest demographic insights
December 21, 2017: This post provides an updated look at potential 2020 reapportionment shifts based on the July 1, 2017 population estimates. Every decade, following the decennial Census, the 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives are allocated to the 50 states on the basis of their population. After the 2000 Census, 12 House seats shifted between 18 states. Ten states lost at least one representative while eight states gained at least one representative.…
The Census Bureau is already planning for the decennial Census on April 1, 2020. This will be the largest enumeration in American history, as the U.S. population has continued to grow steadily since 2010. 2020 is also on the horizon for the major political parties. The outcome of state and local elections on November 3, 2020, will determine who is in office during the post-enumeration process known as reapportionment and redistricting. One time each decade, seats…
“America’s shrinking cities are widely viewed to be suffering from a “brain drain”—the flight of highly educated residents to other, more hospitable locales—that is crippling these cities’ economic competitiveness. While such cities have many problems, brain drain as popularly conceived is not one of them. Indeed, the conventional wisdom on brain drain and declining human capital in shrinking U.S. metropolitan areas is largely a myth: brain gain, not drain, is the reality…. …even major U.S.…
Monday, September 15th, through Wednesday, October 15th, marks National Hispanic Heritage Month. North Carolina’s Hispanic population grew from fewer than 77,000 residents in 1990 to nearly 867,000 in 2013. Between 1990 and 2010, the majority of population growth was due to net migration. As a consequence, the most common birthplace for North Carolina Hispanics was Mexico. In 2000, nearly half (47.4%) of North Carolina’s Hispanic residents were Mexican-born. As the Hispanic population settled in the state,…
Between 1920 and 2010, North Carolina's population increased from 2.6 million residents to more than 9.5 million residents. With nearly 80,700 residents in 1920, Mecklenburg was the state's most populous county then as it is today. But in 1920, Mecklenburg only held 3.2% of the state's population compared to its current share of 10 percent. This share is projected to increase to nearly 12% by 2030. The video below highlights shifts in North Carolina population across…
Only 83 of the nation’s 3,142 counties had a population of 750,000 or more in 2014. Two of these counties—Mecklenburg (Charlotte) and Wake (Raleigh)—were in North Carolina. Among these larger counties, population growth between the 2010 Census and the July 1, 2014 population estimates ranged from a loss of nearly 56,000 residents in Wayne County, MI (home to Detroit) to a gain of more than 348,000 new residents in Harris County, TX (Houston). With a…
Nearly 3.2 million North Carolina adults (18+) were unmarried in 2014, representing 3% of the 107 million unmarried adults nationwide. In both the United States and North Carolina, never married individuals comprise the majority of unmarried adults—63%. Nationwide, a higher share of unmarried adults report being divorced (24%) than in North Carolina (21%). In North Carolina, it is more common for unmarried adults to be widowed (17% vs. 13% nationwide).Among unmarried adults, there are significant…
“The Buckeye Singles Council started “National Singles Week” in Ohio in the 1980s to celebrate single life and recognize singles and their contributions to society. The week is now widely observed during the third full week of September (Sept. 20-26 in 2015) as “Unmarried and Single Americans Week,” an acknowledgment that many unmarried Americans do not identify with the word “single” because they are parents, have partners or are widowed.” – U.S. Census Bureau Nationwide,…
“The Christian share of the U.S. population is declining, while the number of U.S. adults who do not identify with any organized religion is growing[. T]hese changes are taking place across the religious landscape, affecting all regions of the country and many demographic groups. While the drop in Christian affiliation is particularly pronounced among young adults, it is occurring among Americans of all ages. The same trends are seen among whites, blacks and Latinos; among…
At Carolina Demography, we regularly field questions from individuals and organizations about demographic data availability, usage, and interpretation. Curious about what's out there? Here's our guide to key data resources for North Carolina. Decennial Census The Census is conducted every ten years on April 1st. It is a complete count of all housing units and all individuals and contains information on age and sex, race and ethnicity, household structure, and home ownership. Access data at American…
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