NC in Focus
Keep up with our latest demographic insights
What determines if an area is rural or not? Why is it relevant to distinguish between urban and rural at all? In this post, we talk about why defining rural areas is difficult, and how doing so correctly can improve the lives of those who live within them. Part of the difficulty lies in picking a definition. The variety of criteria is representative of just how complex of a topic this can be. How does…
Paul Delamater, a health geographer and our colleague at the Carolina Population Center, is providing up-to-date estimates of COVID-19 cases and forecasts of vaccination across North Carolina. In addition to estimates, Delamater and a team of researchers are mapping: Schools NC COVID-19 Case Rates by School District (over the past 2 weeks) NC COVID-19 Case Rates by School District (over the past week) What CDC transmission category each school district across the state is in,…
This is the third post in a three-part series previewing redistricting in North Carolina. Earlier posts provide an overview of redistricting and a preview of what redistricting means for NC's House. Typically, redistricting starts in April, but the data delays because of Covid-19 pushed back the redistricting data release to August. Redistricting data from the 2020 census will be released on Aug. 12 at 1 p.m. ET. The redistricting files are expected to be uploaded…
This is the second post in a three-part series previewing redistricting in North Carolina. Other posts provide an overview of redistricting and a preview of what redistricting means for NC's Senate. Typically, redistricting starts in April, but the data delays because of Covid-19 pushed back the redistricting data release to August. Redistricting data from the 2020 census will be released on Aug. 12 at 1 p.m. ET. The redistricting files are expected to be uploaded…
The labor force participation rate describes the percentage of people 16 or older who are working or actively looking for work. Nationally, the seasonally-adjusted labor force participation rate for the United States in June 2021 was 61.6%. In North Carolina, the participation rate was 59.2%, 2.4 percentage points below the national rate. Why does the labor force participation rate matter and what does it tell us? The labor force participation rate is a measure of how…
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…
Your support is critical to our mission of measuring, understanding, and predicting population change and its impact. Donate to Carolina Demography today.