Migration
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Nationally, there are 384 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), which are defined as economically integrated sets of counties with a core central city with a population of 50,000 or more. MSAs can be located within one state, or they can span across multiple states. They range in size from Carson City, Nevada (58,933) to the New York-Newark-Jersey City MSA (19,768,458) which crosses New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Within and including North Carolina, there are 17 unique metro regions, ranging from Goldsboro (116,835)…
In 2015, we published a three part series examining immigration trends in the U.S. and in North Carolina. Over the coming weeks, we'll be updating that series, with analysis of how COVID-19 and recent immigration laws have affected international migration in the U.S. and in North Carolina. The U.S. has been a popular destination for immigrants from across the globe since the 1820s. According to the Department of Homeland Security’s records, approximately 86 million immigrants…
Dr. Michael Cline is the state demographer for North Carolina at the Office of State Budget and Management and has given us permission to re-post his content here. Each year, he publishes population estimates and projections for North Carolina and its counties. North Carolina’s population growth continues, despite the challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. The state gained more people than all but Texas, Florida, and Arizona. Between the April 1, 2020 Census…
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…
Dr. Michael Cline is the state demographer for North Carolina at the Office of State Budget and Management and has given us permission to re-post his content here. Each year, he publishes population estimates and projections for North Carolina and its counties. Ten years ago the town of Leland, NC had a little more than 13,000 residents. According to our July 1, 2019 populations estimates, there are now more than 22,600 residents. That’s a growth…
Nationally, there are 384 metropolitan statistical areas (MSA), which are defined as an economically integrated set of counties with a core central city with a population of 50,000 or more. They range in size from Carson City, Nevada (55,916) to the New York-Newark-Jersey City MSA (19,216,182) which crosses New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Within North Carolina, there are 15 unique metro regions, ranging from Goldsboro (123,131) to Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia (2,636,883 across NC and SC). With a combined population of 283 million, nearly seven of…
Population can grow—or decline—from one of two components of change: net migration (both domestic and international) or natural growth (births and deaths). Though both components have contributed to North Carolina’s population growth, net migration has been the driving force of growth in North Carolina since 1990. This has substantially changed the makeup of North Carolina’s population. More than 9 out of 10 North Carolina residents were native to the state a hundred years ago. By…
North Carolina’s population grew to an estimated 10.5 million people as of July 1, 2019, according to new estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. From July 1, 2018 to July 1, 2019, the state’s population increased by nearly 106,500 individuals. This marks the fourth year in a row that North Carolina has grown by more than 100,000 new residents. Among the states, North Carolina had the 4th largest numeric increase since 2018. Only Texas (367K),…
This is the third installment of a three-part series looking at migration in and out of North Carolina. Read the first and second posts in the series to learn where NC's residents are moving from and which NC counties are experiencing the largest population increases due to net migration. In 2017, nearly 367,000 people moved to North Carolina from another state or country and nearly 281,000 North Carolina residents moved out of the state. We’ve…
This is the second post in a three-post series looking at in-migration and out-migration in North Carolina. Read the first post in the series, "NC is rapidly growing. Where are our new residents moving from?" Between 2017 and 2018, North Carolina grew by nearly 87,000 new residents from net in-migration from other states and countries. But that growth was concentrated in several areas within the state. Today, we’re looking at which NC counties have seen…
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